ALICE  M. 
GUERNSEY 


UNDER  OUR 
FLAG 


A  STUDY  OF  NATIONAL  CONDI- 
TIONS  FROM  THE  STAND- 
POINT OF  WOMAN'S  HOME 
MISSIONARY  WORK 

BY 

ALICE    MrCtJERNSEY ,  I  S-jfo 


"  Thus  it  is  written,  that  the  Christ  should  suffer, 
and  rise  again  from  the  dead  the  third  day  ;  and  that 
repentance  and  remission  of  sins  should  be  preached 
in  his  name  unto  all  the  nations,  beginning  from 
Jerusalem." 


NEW  YORK  CHICAGO  TORONTO 

Fleming   H.    Revell   Company 

LONDON  AND  EDINBURGH 


^2   KC 


Copyright,  1903,  by 

FLEMING  H.    REVELL  COMPANY 

(June) 


SIXTH  EDITION 


New  York :  1 58  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago  :  63  Washington  Street 
Toronto  :  27  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London  :  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh  :  30  St.  Mary  Street 


(=>  $ 
Bvictoft 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

CENTRAL  THOUGHT 9 

A  RACE  IN  TRANSITION 13 

IN  THE  SOUTHERN  HIGHLANDS,  33 
ON  THE  OUTPOSTS 

Frontiers 55 

Alaska 72 

CHILDREN  OF  THE  ORIENT. 

In  the  Hawaiian  Islands,           ....  84 

The  Chinese, 90 

"  OLD  SETTLERS  "  AND  NEW. 

The  Indians, 100 

Spanish-speaking  People,          .        .        .        .112 

MORMONISM  AND  THE  MORMONS 132 

WHERE  EXTREMES  MEET, 160 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  HOME  MISSIONARY  MEETINGS,        .  178 

TOPICS  FOR  THOUGHT, 182 

HOME  MISSION  BOOKS,       ......  186 


AMERICA 

My  country,  'tis  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty, 

Of  thee  I  sing  ! 
Land  where  my  fathers  died,, 
Land  of  the  pilgrim's  pride, 
From  every  mountain  side 

Let  freedom  ring ! 

My  native  country,  thee, 
Land  of  the  noble  free, 

Thy  name  I  love. 
I  love  thy  rocks  and  rills, 
Thy  woods  and  templed  hills, 
My  heart  with  rapture  thrills 

Like  that  above  ! 

Our  fathers'  God,  to  Thee, 
Author  of  liberty, 

To  Thee  we  sing  ! 
Long  may  our  land  be  bright 
With  freedom's  holy  light, 
Vrotect  us  by  Thy  might, 

Great  God,  our  King. 


WOMAN'S    WORK    FOR    HOME    MISSIONS 

ORGANIZATIONS 
BAPTIST. 

Woman's  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society. 
Cor.  Sec.,  Mrs.  M.  C.  Reynolds,  510  Tremont  Temple. 
Boston,  Mass.  Official  organ,  Home  Mission  Echoes. 

Women's  Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society.  Cor. 
Sec.,  Miss  M.  G.  Burdette,  2421  Indiana  Ave.,  Chicago, 
111.  Official  organ,  Tidings. 

CONGREGATIONAL. 

Forty-one  State  organizations,  bound  together  by  an 
Annual  Conference  of  officers,  carry  on  the  Woman's 
Home  Missionary  work. 
CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIAN. 

Woman's  Board  of  Missions.     Cor.  Sec.,    Mrs.  Dee 
Ferguson  Clarke,   Y.  M.  C.  A.    Building,    Evansville, 
Ind.     Official    organ,    the    Woman's    Department    in 
Missionary  Record.     (Home  and  Foreign.) 
LUTHERAN. 

Woman's    Home   and   Foreign   Missionary  Society. 
Cor.  Sec.,    Miss  M.  H.  Morris,  406  North  Green   St., 
Baltimore,  Md.     Official  organ,  the   Woman's  Depart- 
ment in  Lutheran  Missionary  Record. 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL. 

Woman's    Home    Missionary    Society.      Cor.    Sec., 
Mrs.    Delia    L.   Williams,    Delaware,    Ohio.      Official 
organs,  Woman's  Home  Missions  and  Children's  Home 
Missions,  150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  SOUTH. 

Woman's  Home  Mission  Society.     Cor.    Sec.,    Mrs. 
R.  W.  MacDonell,  346  Public  Square,  Nashville,  Tenn. 
Official  organ,  Our  Homes. 
PRESBYTERIAN. 

Woman's  Board  of  Home  Missions.  Cor.  Sec. 
(acting),  Mrs.  John  F.  Pingry,  156  Fifth  Avenue,  New 
York  City.  Official  organs,  Home  Mission  Monthly 
and  Over  Sea  and  Land  (the  latter,  both  Home  and 
Foreign,  for  children). 
PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL. 

The  Woman's  Auxiliary  to  the  Board  of  Missions. 
Cor.  Sec.,  Miss  Julia  C.  Emery,  281  Fourth  Avenue, 
New  York  City.  Official  organ,  the  Woman's  Depart- 
ment of  The  Spirit  of  Missions.  (Home  and  Foreign.) 
REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  AMERICA. 

Women's  Executive  Committee  Board  of  Domestic 
Missions.  Cor.  Sec  ,  Mrs.  E.  B.  Horton,  25  East  22d 
Street,  New  York  City.  Official  organ,  the  Woman's  De- 
partment in  The  Mission  Field.  (Home  and  Foreign.) 


SUGGESTIONS 

THE  methods  of  using  this  book  may  be  as 
varied  as  the  conditions  surrounding  its  users. 
The  following  outline  of  plans  is  given  for  the 
help  of  those  who  may  wish  it : 

1.  Members  of  the  society  read  the  chapters 
at  home  and  talk  them  over  at  the  meetings;  the 
topics  may  be  still  farther  elaborated  by  papers, 
talks  and  discussions  on  various  allied  themes. 

2.  The  main  chapter  is  read  aloud  at  the  meet- 
ing.    The  illustrations  following  each  section  are 
read  by  different  members  present,  and  discussed 
by  all. 

3.  A  leader  appointed  at  a  previous  meeting, 
prepares  herself  by  thorough  study  of  the  theme 
to  give  the  substance  of  a  chapter  in  her  own 
words,  and  to  answer  questions  upon  it;  others 
should  do  their  part  by  asking  numerous  ques- 
tions. 

4.  A  given  chapter  is  divided  into  sections,  and 
a  member  of  the  society  assigned  to  take  charge 
of  each  section  and  to  present  it  in  whatever  way 
she  sees  fit  at  the  next  meeting. 

6.  Written  questions  are  distributed,  to  be  an- 
swered from  previous  reading  of  a  given  chapter. 
6 


CENTRAL  THOUGHT 

IT  should  never  be  forgotten  that  the  end  and 
aim  of  Woman's  Home  Missionary  work, 
aside  from  the  personal  salvation  of  those 
brought  under  its  influence,  is  to  uplift  the  homes 
of  the  nation — and,  thereby,  its  citizenship.  The 
proudest  distinction  of  America  is  that  it  is  a 
land  of  homes. 

To  uplift  the  home  requires  effort  along  many 
and  varied  lines.  There  must  be  housekeepers 
trained  in  all  deft  and  womanly  arts  of  house- 
wifery; there  must  be  nurses  and  doctors  able 
to  take  intelligent  care  of  the  sick;  there  must 
be  schools  and  teachers  capable  of  co-operating 
with  the  home  at  its  best.  Hence,  for  the  de- 
velopment of  a  race,  or  a  nation,  there  must  be 
industrial  Homes,  normal  classes,  advanced  edu- 
cation of  young  men  and  young  women,  that  they 
may  keep  step  together  as  makers  of  homes. 

With  this  thought  in  mind,  the  subject-matter 
of  this  book  centres  around  the  home,  in  the 
broad  sense  of  the  term.  Does  an  organisation 
of  Home  Missionary  women  maintain  a  school 
for  the  children  in  some  neglected  or  forgotten 
region  ?  The  reflex  influence  of  the  school  is  felt 
9 


10  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

in  the  homes  of  its  pupils,  and  the  missionary 
teacher,  visiting  from  house  to  house — or  from 
hut,  or  wigwam,  or  tepee  to  other  dwellings  of 
like  character — finds  that  slowly,  but  surely,  the 
home-life  takes  on  new  and  brighter  aspects. 

Is  an  industrial  Home  set  as  a  signal  light  in 
the  darkness  of  ignorance  and  superstition? 
Back  to  the  forlorn  places  they  have  called  home 
its  eager  students  carry  the  lessons  of  neatness, 
industry,  thrift  and  intelligence,  and  the  desert 
begins  to  blossom.  Is  a  kindergarten  started  for 
the  waifs  of  the  street?  "Teacher"  becomes  a 
household  word,  the  name  of  a  friend,  and  the 
work  enlarges  into  a  Settlement  with  Christian 
women  at  its  head,  the  guides  and  helpers  of  the 
womanhood  around  them. 

It  is  fitting,  therefore,  that  the  first  book  of  an 
inter-denominational  study  course  for  societies  of 
Home  Missionary  women  should  deal  with  the 
needs  found,  in  the  main,  in  the  'homes  of  the 
nation.  There  are  other  fields  of  missionary  en- 
deavor in  the  homeland  that  must  be  untouched 
here.  The  mighty  task  of  starting  and  main- 
taining churches  in  the  great  Northwest  and  the 
colonial  sections  of  the  United  States,  the  per- 
plexing problems  of  city  evangelisation,  the  sup- 
port of  colleges  in  the  South  and  of  missionary 
fields  covering  vast  areas — these,  though  largely 
aided  by  the  gifts  of  women,  are  managed  by  the 
general  missionary  societies  of  the  church — with 
men  as  their  officers.  The  womanhood  of  the 


CENTRAL    THOUGHT         11 

church,  God-commissioned,  gathers  up  the  glean- 
ings, and  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  multiplies  them 
into  sheaves  of  golden  fruitage. 

1607-1903 — almost  three  hundred  years!  It 
is  the  difference  between  armed  sailing-vessels 
and  armored  menof-war,  between  signal  fires 
from  mountain  peaks  and  wireless  telegraphy! 

It  would  be  an  interesting  quest  to  trace  the 
causes  of  present  conditions,  and  note  the  "  foot- 
prints on  the  sands  of  time " — footprints  of 
pioneers  in  arts  and  crafts,  in  education  and 
statesmanship,  as  well  as  in  want  and  suffering 
and  sin.  But  this  limited  study  must,  of  neces- 
sity, deal  with  the  living,  active  Present,  with 
the  conditions  existing  to-day  under  the  flag  of 
our  love  and  devotion,  with  the  needs  that  can  be 
met — both  for  our  land  and  for  other  lands — 
only  by  Home  Missionary  work. 

The  fulfilment  of  the  plan  of  this  Home  Mis- 
sionary Series  involves  other  books  which  shall 
deal  with  the  heroic  and  successful  efforts  that 
are  being  made  to  meet  the  needs  and  better  the 
conditions  described  in  these  pages.  The  story 
here  told  is,  of  necessity,  somewhat  sombre. 
But  let  no  one  be  discouraged.  An  enemy  in 
plain  sight  is  more  easily  met  and  vanquished 
than  one  in  ambush.  A  mistake  seen,  may  be 
corrected. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  South  African  war, 
a  telegram  came  across  the  wires  from  be- 


12  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

leaguered  Ladysmith,  to  this  effect  :  "  A  civilian 
has  just  been  sentenced  by  court-martial  to  a 
year's  imprisonment  for  causing  despondency." 
What  had  he  done?  Nothing,  save  to  go  along 
the  lines  of  the  brave  defenders  of  the  city  and 
say  discouraging  things.  That  was  all — but  it 
was  enough  to  make  the  sentence  of  the  court- 
martial  richly  deserved. 

What  is  the  outlook?  Pilgrim,  in  Doubting 
Castle,  says,  "  It  is  all  dark.  The  Mormons  are 
'  lengthening  their  cords  and  strengthening  their 
stakes.'  The  Negro  problem  is  farther  from 
solution  than  ever.  Our  great  cities  are  sunk 
in  iniquity.  And,  as  if  we  had  not  enough 
burdens  before,  Alaska  and  Hawaii,  Porto  Rico 
and  the  Philippines  have  been  added.  We  can 
touch  but  the  outer  fringes  of  the  great  pall  of 
darkness  and  sin.  Better  fold  our  hands  and  let 
things  drift." 

O  Pilgrim,  look  from  the  windows!  You 
have  not  even  known  that  there  were  windows 
in  Doubting  Castle!  But  look  now — out  to- 
ward the  east.  See!  the  sun  is  rising,  calm, 
clear  and  beautiful.  It  is  the  "  Sun  of  Right- 
eousness," with  healing  in  its  beams.  Mark  how 
its  rays  chase  the  'darkness  away!  See  the  mists 
and  miasmas  flee  before  their  coming!  O  Pil- 
grim, the  locks  are  broken,  though  you  know  it 
not.  Come  out  from  Doubting  Castle,  walk 
forth  in  God's  free  sunlight,  and  you  will  know 
that  He  has  right  of  way  in  the  world. 


II 

A  RACE  IN  TRANSITION 

TO  say  that  all  Negro  homes  in  the  South 
are  like  those  hereafter  described  would 
be  unjust  to  a  very  large  class  of  edu- 
cated, cultivated  people  of  the  Negro  race.  But 
since  the  object  of  this  book  is  to  show  existent 
needs,  it  must  present  in  the  foreground  of  its 
picture  the  homes — of  which,  alas,  there  are 
abundant  examples — that  show  the  necessity  of 
such  an  uplift  as  can  come  only  from  within, 
through  the  development  and  teaching  of  their 
inmates. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  there  are  many 
Negro  homes  that  compare  favorably  in  cleanli- 
ness and  attractiveness  with  the  best  American 
homes  of  similar  class.  Careful  estimates  indi- 
cate that,  take  the  South  as  a  whole,  city  and 
country,  two  per  cent,  of  the  homes  of  the  colored 
race  are  of  this  kind — and  the  fact  is  one  of  pro- 
found encouragement,  especially  when  it  is  re- 
membered that  the  results  have  been  obtained, 
in  the  main,  within  the  lifetime  of  a  single  gener- 
ation. But  even  the  superficial  glance  of  a  pass- 
ing traveller  in  the  Southland  discovers  much  in 
the  Negro  settlements  that  is  below  the  standard 
13 


14  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

of  the  true  American  home.  Lack  of  money  is 
no  more  evident  than  lack  of  thrift.  A  tumbling 
shanty,  with  floor  of  loose  boards — or  no  floor 
at  all — outside  chimney,  no  window  save  a  square 
hole  in  the  wall,  and  but  one  room  for  the  eating, 
sleeping  and  living  of  the  entire  family,  may  be 
an  abiding  place — it  can  hardly  be  called  a  home. 

As  a  rule,  the  home-makers  of  the  Southern 
Negroes  are  wage-earners,  and  while  at  work 
from  morning  until  evening  their  offspring  must 
care  for  themselves.  They  have,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  but  little  opportunity  for  home-making, 
and  it  can  hardly  be  a  matter  of  surprise  that  in 
these  small,  one-room  cabins  the  ordinary  condi- 
tions of  domestic  life  elsewhere  are  "  conspicuous 
by  their  absence."  The  food  is  cooked  over  an 
open  fire,  and  such  a  thing  as  sitting  down  to  a 
table  for  a  family  meal  is  practically  unknown. 
Each  takes  his  portion  and  eats  it  on  the  door- 
step, or  wherever  is  most  convenient.  Clean, 
white  tablecloths,  napkins,  even  knives  and  forks, 
are  a  distinct  revelation  to  the  girl  going  from 
such  a  dwelling  to  an  industrial  Home.  And  her 
shyness  and  awkwardness  are  so  great  that  for 
some  time  it  requires  constant  effort  on  the  part 
of  her  teachers  to  ensure  that  she  eats  and  sleeps 
in  accordance  with  the  customs  of  civilised  life. 

What  becomes  of  the  sweet  intimacies  of  fam- 
ily life  under  such  conditions?  What  opportu- 
nity is  there  for  the  cultivation  of  taste  in  dress, 
or  love  of  "  the  good,  the  true  and  the  beauti- 


RACE    IN    TRANSITION       15 

ful  "  ?  What  dangers  lurk  in  such  conditions 
for  the  womanly  instincts  of  modesty  and  pro- 
priety! How  can  there  be  development  of  "  the 
strong  upward  tendencies  "  that  are  the  birth- 
right of  humanity,  without  distinction  of  race? 
What  ideals  can  be  cherished  when  dark  corners 
and  stale  odors  characterise  the  place,  and  the 
circus  handbill  is  the  chief  teacher  of  decoration? 

The  redeeming  feature  of  country  life  under 
these  conditions  is  God's  free,  glad  outdoors. 
There  are  trees  and  flowers  and  fields,  and  sun- 
shine and  air.  And  yet  the  yards  of  these  cabins, 
even  if  set  off  by  rickety  fences,  are  either  hard 
and  bare,  or  filled  with  weeds.  If  he  is  a  bene- 
factor who  makes  two  blades  of  grass  to  grow 
where  but  one  grew  before,  what  shall  be  said  of 
her  who  teaches  that  grass  and  flowers  can  green 
and  blossom  where  none  have  been  seen,  or  even 
dreamed  of? 

Such  conditions  are  bad  enough  in  the  coun- 
try. But  when  they  exist  in  the  heart  of  a  city, 
then  is  the  region  a  slum,  indeed. 

The  characteristic  basis  of  city  life  among  the 
Negroes  of  the  South  is  the  alley.  Opening  on 
this,  and  between  better  houses — often  a  con- 
traction, in  reality,  of  their  backyard  space — 
stand  tiny  dwellings,  of  one  room  or  two,  lack- 
ing ceiling  and  plastering,  windows  and  paint — 
simply  boxes  on  the  ground,  or  perched  on 
wooden  or  brick  pillars,  without  cellar  or  foun- 
These  habitations  are  crowded  together 


16  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

in  groups,  water  being  obtained  from  wells  com- 
mon to  the  community  and  easily  contaminated 
by  sewage.  Sewer  connections  are  seldom  made. 

Such  physical  conditions  are  bad  enough,  and 
leave  no  room  for  wonder  at  the  high  death-rate 
among  the  Negroes  of  the  South.  But  their 
chief  importance,  after  all,  is  their  effect  on  the 
mental  and  moral  possibilities.  The  one-room 
house  is  the  primitive  and  original  form  of  the 
home,  as  illustrated  by  the  wigwam  of  the  In- 
dian and  the  topek  of  the  Eskimo.  It  is  by  no 
means  peculiar  to  the  Negroes.  As  a  residence 
for  two — husband  and  wife — it  may  be  made 
fairly  comfortable  and  respectable.  But  fill  it  with 
children  of  differing  ages,  and  it  becomes  a  dan- 
ger-spot in  the  community.  The  resultant  herd- 
ing— no  other  word  expresses  it — makes  all  home 
decency  and  courtesy  and  elevation  almost  an 
impossibility. 

Another  danger  to  be  recognised  is  the  fact 
that  the  "  best  Negro  settlements  are  never  free 
from  the  intrusion  of  the  worst  class  of  whites.'* 
The  paths  of  girlhood  and  young  womanhood 
among  this  people  are  set  with  traps  and  snares 
undreamed  of  by  their  more  fortunate  sisters. 

But  there  is  a  second  danger,  inherent,  per- 
haps, in  the  make-up  of  mankind,  but  developed 
by  circumstances  among  the  Negroes  of  the 
South  to  an  unusual  degree. 

"  Get  leave  to  work 
In  this  world— 'tis  the  best  you  get  at  all," 


RACE    IN    TRANSITION       17 

sings  Mrs.  Browning.  In  the  vocabulary  of  the 
Negro  race,  especially  under  the  warm  sunshine 
of  the  South,  this  has  been  too  often  rendered, 
"  Get  away  from  work  in  this  world  just  as  far  as 
you  can." 

The  effect  of  this  on  the  home  can  easily  be 
imagined.  With  little  work  and,  in  con- 
sequence, little  money  in  the  hands  of  the  head 
of  the  household,  there  is  little  to  do  with  and 
still  less  for  improvements  in  methods,  even  if 
the  desire  for  them  existed.  There  has  come, 
also,  as  the  product  of  various  causes,  a  half- 
scorn  for  work  and  workers,  and  hence  it  is  true 
that  one  of  the  imperative  lessons  for  the  colored 
race  is  the  nobility  of  work — of  work  for  work's 
sake,  of  honest,  downright,  hard  work,  of  pride 
in  doing  it  well  <and  of  satisfaction  in  its  results 
that  can  be  obtained  in  no  other  way. 

"  Lazy  "  is  not  always  the  correct  adjective 
to  apply  to  man  or  woman,  however  much  cir- 
cumstances may  suggest  it.  Experience  abun- 
dantly proves  that  lack  of  stimulus,  ambition 
stifled  at  its  birth,  confining  environments,  often 
lead  to  that  which  seems  like  laziness  to  mere 
observers.  But  it  is  noticeable  that  Negro  boys 
trained  in  certain  schools  in  the  South  are  in 
demand  as  farm  laborers  because  they  "  do  a 
full  day's  work."  Only  by  such  training  can 
labor  be  "  lifted  up  out  of  toil  and  drudgery  into 
that  which  is  dignified  and  beautiful." 

"  The  Negro  needs,"  writes  Mr.  Booker  T. 


18  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

Washington,  "  knowledge  that  is  harnessed."  A 
sense  of  proportions,  of  values,  is  none  the  less 
necessary.  "  One  of  the  saddest  sights  I  ever 
saw,"  writes  again  this  clear-sighted  Afro-Ameri- 
can, "  was  the  placing  of  a  $300  rosewood  piano 
in  a  country  school  in  the  Black  Belt.  Four- 
fifths  of  the  people  in  the  community  owned  no 
land,  many  lived  in  rented  one-room  cabins, 
many  were  in  debt  for  food  supplies,  many 
mortgaged  their  crops  for  the  food  on  which  to 
live,  and  not  one  had  a  bank  account.  After 
the  home  and  the  necessaries  of  life  were  sup- 
plied, could  come  the  piano.  One  piano  in  a 
home  of  one's  own  is  worth  twenty  in  a  log 
cabin.  The  music  lessons  in  school  were  all 
right,  but  should  have  been  deferred  about 
twenty-five  years." 

A  writer  from  the  Black  Belt  of  Alabama,  a 
section  where  the  proportion  of  Negroes  to 
whites  is  twenty-seven  to  one,  says :  "  The  stand- 
ard of  morality  is  low;  human  life  is  cheap,  and 
crime  is  common.  The  families  are  handicapped 
by  the  crop-mortgage  system,  through  which 
'  de  lender  owns  de  borrower,  wife  an'  chillun, 
an'  all  dey  raise.' "  With  interest  on  such  loans 
ranging  anywhere  from  fifteen  to  forty  per  cent., 
what  chance  can  there  be  to  "  get  ahead  "  ? 

According  to  the  census  of  1900,  ten  Southern 
States  having  25  per  cent,  of  the  school  popula- 
tion of  this  country  own  only  4  per  cent,  of  the 
public  school  property,  and  expend  only  6  1-2 


RACE    IN    TRANSITION       l» 

per  cent,  of  the  public  school  moneys.  As 
an  inevitable  result,  illiteracy,  with  all  its 
evils  and  dangers,  follows.  The  annual  per 
capita  expenditure  for  public  schools  in  Mas- 
sachusetts is  $4.93;  in  the  country,  as  a  whole, 
$2.83.  In  Alabama  it  is  fifty  cents,  and. in  North 
Carolina,  fifty-one. 

Mr.  Washington  is  authority  for  the  statement 
that  there  is  one  whole  county  in  the  South 
where  the  State  or  school  authorities  do  not  own 
a  single  dollar's  worth  of  school  property,  and 
where  not  a  school  has  a  blackboard  or  a  piece  of 
crayon.  "  And  yet,"  he  adds,  "  a  vote  in  this 
county  means  as  much  to  the  nation  as  a  vote 
in  the  city  of  Boston." 

The  last  census  shows  that  more  than  half 
of  the  Negro  population  of  Georgia,  South  Caro- 
lina, Alabama  and  Louisiana  is  illiterate.  Tak- 
ing out  the  few,  comparatively,  in  the  educa- 
tional centres  of  those  States,  the  intelligence,  as 
a  whole,  is  hardly  more  than  it  was  fifty  years 
ago.  To  realise  what  this  means  it  is  well  to 
remember  that  in  1880  there  were  3,950,000 
Negroes  in  the  United  States.  To-day  they 
number  some  ten  millions,  or  nearly  twice  as 
many  as  the 'entire  population  of  the  Dominion 
of  Canada. 

The  deficiency  in  school  facilities  affects  the 
white  as  well  as  the  colored  race,  as  shown  in  the 
next  chapter.  Tuskegee,  Hampton,  Carlisle,  Cal- 
houn  and  similar  schools  are  doing  splendid 


20  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

service;  the  public  schools  are  all  that  their  con- 
ditions permit.  But  all  of  these  cannot  do  all 
that  must  be  done.  Woman's  touch  is  needed 
for  the  Negro  womanhood  and  girlhood  of  the 
South,  and  this,  the  initial  field  of  most  of  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  societies,  still  de- 
mands time  and  means  and  effort.  "  To  get  the 
children  is  to  get  the  older  people.  Moreover, 
the  school  door  once  open  is  the  open  door  to  the 
entire  community  life." 

The  instinctive  thought  when  facing  such 
destitution,  is  of  blame  for  the  municipality,  the 
county,  the  State,  in  which  such  conditions  are 
possible.  But  the  "  sober  second  thought,"  con- 
sidering the  difficulties  that  have  already  been 
overcome,  the  poverty  and  bankruptcy  that  fol- 
lowed the  Civil  War,  together  with  the  racial 
problems  that  pressed  with  such  tremendous 
force  upon  the  people  and  the  State,  realises 
that  much,  very  much,  has  been  done  by  the 
South  itself  for  the  education  of  its  citizens,  black 
and  white  alike.  And  more  is  planned,  and 
will  be  carried  out.  "  Rome  was  not  built  in  a 
day."  All  honor  to  those  who  have  laid  the 
foundation  on  which,  in  the  not  distant  future, 
will  rise  the  fair  superstructure  of  a  full  public 
school  education  for  all  the  children  of  the  State. 

Given  a  condition  of  need,  physical,  mental 
and  spiritual,  how  shall  it  be  met?  "  The  grace 
of  God  is  the  great  panacea  for  all  human  needs/' 
says  one,  and  we  reverently  accept  the  statement 


RACE    IN    TRANSITION      21 

But  how  shall  it  be  brought  to  bear  upon  these 
needs?  Shall  a  missionary  go  into  the  heart  of 
a  city  slum  and  preach  Christ  and  His  salvation 
from  sin — and  do  nothing  else? 

Nay,  not  so  does  God  work  His  miracles  of  re- 
generation. With  the  gospel  of  salvation  from 
sin  must  be  taught,  through  long  and  painful 
struggle,  the  other  gospels  of  cleanliness,  of 
work,  of  brain-culture — these  as  well  as  soul- 
saving.  And  for  this  teaching,  the  law  as  well 
as  the  gospel,  public  sentiment  as  well  as  re- 
ligious enthusiasm,  must  unite.  Someone  has 
said :  "  It  is  a  pretty  hard  thing  to  make  a  good 
Christian  out  of  a  hungry  man."  It  is  equally 
true  of  a  lazy  man,  to  say  nothing  of  an  igno- 
rant one. 

Such  training  must  be  given  as  to  equip  the 
average  child  for  the  place  he  is  likely  to  occupy 
in  after  life,  and  to  prepare  the  way  for  future 
advancement  in  obviously  exceptional  cases. 
And  this  must  be  so  done  that  there  shall  not 
only  be  no  tendency,  but  no  desire,  to  revert  to 
former  conditions  when  away  from  the  school 
influence. 

ILLUSTRATIVE    QUOTATIONS 

From  Booker  T.  Washington 

What  the  [Negro]  race  accomplishes  in  these 

first  fifty  years  of  its  freedom  will  at  the  end  of 

these  years  in  a  large  measure  constitute  its  past. 

It  is,  indeed,  a  responsibility  that  rests  upon  this 


22  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

nation — the  foundation-laying  for  a  people,  of  its 
past,  present  and  future,  at  one  and  the  same 
time. 

The  millions  of  colored  people  in  the  South 
cannot  be  reached  directly  by  any  missionary 
agent,  but  they  can  be  reached  by  sending  out 
among  them  strong,  selected  young  men  and 
women  with  the  proposed  training  of  head  and 
hand  and  heart,  who  will  live  among  them  and 
show  them  how  to  lift  themselves  up. 

Out  of  the  Negro  colleges  and  industrial 
schools  of  the  South  there  are  going  forth  each 
year  thousands  of  young  men  and  women  into 
dark  and  secluded  corners,  into  lonely  log 
schoolhouses,  amidst  poverty  and  ignorance;  and 
when  they  go  forth  no  drums  beat,  no  banners 
fly,  no  friends  cheer,  yet  they  are  fighting  the 
battles  of  this  country  as  bravely  and  truly  as 
those  who  go  forth  to  do  battle  against  a  foreign 
enemy. 

From  "  The  Southern  Workman  " 
We  as  Negroes  must  recognise  that  the  main 
tendencies  among  us  are  toward  bad  homes,  bad 
houses,  bad  family  customs,  and  that,  therefore, 
we  must  put  forth  especial  effort  among  our- 
selves and  our  neighbors  to  guard  against  care- 
lessness, and  to  insure  progress  in  home  build- 
ing. Each  one  of  us  must  strive  to  occupy  a 
model  home  which  shall  inspire  our  neighbors. 


RACE    IN    TRANSITION       2£ 

Secondly,  we  must  recognise  that  a  large  part 
of  the  Negro  death-rate  is  due  to  poor  houses 
and  poor  home  customs.  Here  is  the  place  to 
begin,  then,  to  improve  health. 

Thirdly,  if  it  is  difficult  to  develop  good  minds 
in  poor  bodies,  it  is  just  as  hard  to  instil  morals 
in  one-room  cabins  or  in  bad  houses  anywhere. 
The  first  step  toward  good  family  life  is  made  in 
building  a  suitable  house. 

Ability  to  read  and  write  is  only  a  single  fea- 
ture of  the  true  education.  A  training  is  required 
that  will  make  the  man  a  man  and  the  woman  a 
woman  of  the  best  type,  resolute  for  any  task  and 
competent  for  all  required  duties. 

There  has  been  current  a  great  deal  of  talk 
about  the  needs  of  practical  education  for  black 
children.  They  need,  above  all,  theoretical  train- 
ing. They  need  to  realise  what  a  home  ought 
to  be,  what  it  ought  to  stand  for,  what  the  in- 
stitution of  the  family  means  in  human  develop- 
ment. .  .  .  The  untouched  masses  of  the  black 
South  should  be  set  to  thinking  and  to  wish- 
ing. 

Political  economists,  thinking  only  of  dollars 
and  cents,  complain  that  the  results  of  mission- 
ary effort  are  not  commensurate  with  the  outlay. 
"  They  tell  us,"  said  the  late  Professor  Max  Mul- 
ler,  "  that  every  convert  (in  foreign  missions) 
costs  us  £200,  and  that  at  the  present  rate  of 


24  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

progress  it  would  take  more  than  200,000  years 
to  evangelise  the  world.  There  is  nothing  at  all 
startling  in  these  figures.  Every  child  born  in 
Europe  is  as  much  a  heathen  as  the  child  of  a 
Melenesian  cannibal,  and  it  costs  us  more  than 
£200  to  turn  a  child  into  a  Christian  man. 

"  The  other  calculation  is  totally  erroneous, 
for  an  intellectual  harvest  must  not  be  calculated 
by  adding  simply  grain  to  grain,  but  by  counting 
each  grain  as  a  living  seed,  that  brings  forth 
fruit  a  hundred  and  a  thousand  fold." 

The  following  table  of  illiteracy  in  the  colored 
population  of  various  States,  including  those  ten 
years  old  and  over,  deserves  careful  considera- 
tion: 

Connecticut u.8 

Massachusetts —  12.4 

New  York. 12.8 

Pennsylvania 15.3 

New  Jersey    17.5 

Ohio ..   17.9 

Illinois 18.2 

Indiana 22.6 

District  of  Columbia 24.2 

Missouri 28.0 

West  Virginia 32.3 

Maryland 35.2 

Delaware 38.  i 

Texas 38.2 

Florida 38.5 

Kentucky 40.1 

Tennessee 41.6 

Arkansas 43-o 


RACE    IN    TRANSITION      25 

Virginia 44-6 

North  Carolina 47.6 

Mississippi 49- 1 

Georgia 52.3 

South  Carolina  .  52.8 

Alabama    57.4 

Louisiana 61.1 

HINTS  AND   TOKENS 

An  old  colored  man,  looking  out  from  the 
vantage-ground  of  experience  upon  the  new  pos- 
sibilities for  his  race,  exclaimed  in  pitiful  help- 
lessness: "Oh,  I  do  want  to  do  something 
for  my  wife  and  children,  but  I  do  not  know 
how.  I  do  not  know  what  to  do." 

A  colored  girl,  trained  in  a  Home  Missionary 
school  in  Texas,  cried  exultantly:-"  I've  learned 
right  smart.  I've  learned  to  save.  I'll  be  the 
savingest  one  in  the  family  when  I  go  home." 
We  smile  at  the  characteristic  idioms,  but  there 
is  deep  significance  in  the  words. 

From  one  school  the  teacher  writes  that  two 
of  the  boys  walked  from  their  homes,  fifty  miles 
away,  for  the  sake  of  coming.  Another  boards 
himself  on  bread  and  water.  Still  other  boys, 
anxious  to  "  learn  the  book,"  walk  some  five 
miles  each  way  daily,  their  only  luncheon  being 
corn  bread  and  roadside  berries.  Some  of  the 
girls  made  their  coming  possible  by  picking 
cotton  in  the  fields  at  the  rate  of  thirty-three  and  a 
half  cents  per  hundred  pounds. 


26  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

" had  given  so  much  trouble  that  finally 

I  told  him  he  must  go  home.  He  left,  but  came 
back  in  a  day  or  two  for  his  trunk.  Some  of  the 
Christian  boys  of  the  school  took  him  into  the 
chapel  and  had  a  prayer-meeting,  seemingly 
without  effect,  praying  especially  for  him.  But 
he  could  not  get  away  from  the  prayers.  In 
three  or  four  days  he  came  back  with  the  joyful 
news  that  he  had  found  the  Saviour.  He  said 
he  wanted  to  come  and  confess  Christ,  even  if  I 
would  not  take  him  back  into  the  school.  But 
I  was  glad  to  restore  him,  for  he  is  a  changed  boy, 
and  will  give  us  no  more  trouble." — Letter  from 
a  mission  school. 

Said  a  white-haired  old  Negro  to  a  missionary 
teacher:  "Ma'am,  it  cuts  me  to  the  heart  to 
think  I  have  to  make  my  mark.  If  you  don't 
think  I'm  too  old,  I  want  to  come  and  learn  to 
write  my  name."  And  come  he  did,  bending  pa- 
tiently over  the  strange  characters,  his  toilworn 
hands  painfully  grasping  the  unaccustomed  pen, 
but  the  joy  of  progress  in  his  soul. 

"  If  a  reading-room  is  needed  anywhere  in  the 
world,  it  is  in  the  South  among  the  colored 
people,  where  they  do  not  have  access  to  Chris- 
tian books  and  papers.  There  are  numerous 
grog-shops,  the  lowest  progeny  of  the  saloon, 
the  social  clubroom  where  the  boys  learn  to 
smoke,  to  use  profane  language  and  gamble, 


RACE    IN    TRANSITION      27 

where  they  hear  vile  stories  and  see  lewd  pic- 
tures. These  are  some  of  the  perils,  some  of  the 
vices,  by  which  the  young  people  are  daily  sur- 
rounded, and  these  are  the  only  resorts  to  which 
they  can  go  and  feel  welcome." 

Her  father  brought  Mary  Jane  to  the  school. 
She  wore  a  cotton  dress,  bright  red  in  spots, 
through  some  peculiar  method  of  dyeing.  It 
reached  her  shoe-tops  in  front,  and  touched  the 
floor  in  a  point  in  the  back.  The  trimming  was 
coarse  pillow-lace  around  the  low,  collarless  neck. 
Her  rusty,  brown  hat  had  a  single  red  feather 
stuck  up  in  front,  in  what  she  supposed  was  ex- 
actly the  right  angle  for  the  prevailing  fashion, 
and  her  tight-braided  hair  was  tied  with  cotton 
strings. 

The  teacher  handed  the  new-comer  to  the  care 
of  girls  of  her  own  age  for  a  short  time.  An 
hour  later  she  hardly  knew  her.  Deftly,  tact- 
fully, the  girls  had  rearranged  her  hair  and  dress 
till  she  actually  looked  like  themselves.  A 
month  later,  at  Christmas  time,  her  father  came 
to  take  her  home  for  the  vacation,  and  his  sur- 
prise was  unbounded.  "  I  never'd  a  knowed  you, 
chile.  You'se  mighty  changed." 

"  The  best  workers,"  writes  the  principal  of  a 
school  for  Negro  young  men  and  women,  "  those 
who  have  taken  the  full  school  course,  are  needed 
right  in  the  home  field.  The  pastors  of  the 


28  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

churches  depend  on  them  more  than  on  their 
elders;  they  are  the  hope  of  a  better  state  of 
things  in  the  public  schools;  in  all  missionary 
and  reform  work  they  are  the  recognised  lead- 
ers." 

"  Mother,  don't  be  uneasy  'bout  I  in  studying, 
because  I'm  doing  my  best,  and  you  know  when 
I  was  going  to  school  at  home  I  always  did  try 
to  know  my  lessons  perfect  when  I  went  to  my 
class,  so  you  know  I  am  most  compel  to  study 
hard  here,  being  with  so  many  girls  that  are 
trying  with  all  their  might  to  know  their  lessons 
perfect.  ...  I  haven't  cause  any  my  teachers 
any  trouble  since  I  been  here,  none  of  them  has 
never  had  to  speak  to  me  'bout  talking  or  doing 
anything  wrong  because  I'm  very  careful  in  try- 
ing not  to  break  any  of  the  rules.  ...  It  was 
encouraging  to  know  that  you  expect  me  to  do 
something.  With  God  to  help  me,  you  shall 
not  be  disappointed." — From  a  school-girl's  letter. 

He  was  twenty-three  years  old — a  gaunt,  over- 
grown boy — applying  for  admission  to  a  school. 
"  I  wants  learnin',"  was  his  introduction. 

"  How  far  have  you  studied?  "  asked  the  prin- 
cipal. 

"  Nowhere  in  yourn's  books." 

"Can  you  read?" 

"  Not  in  them  books  you's  got." 


RACE    IN    TRANSITION      29 

"  Well,  how  are  you  off  for  means?  " 

"  I  isn't  mean  at  all." 

"  I  mean,  have  you  any  money?  " 

"  Yes,  I  have  two  dollars,  an'  I  wants  to 
work." 

"  We  have  no  work  we  can  give  you  just 
now." 

"  That's  powerful  funny.  I  sees  lots  of  work 
that  isn't  did  about  here." 

"Yes?    What  do  you  see?" 

"  Them  cobwebs  needs  to  be  took  down ;  that 
stuff  ought  to  be  toted  away,  an'  lots  of  things 
is  to  be  did  here  that  them  boys  there  hasn't 
did." 

"  Well,  if  I  take  you  into  school,  will  you  do 
what  these  boys  have  not  had  time  to  do,  and 
study  your  lessons,  too?" 

"  Yes,  I  will,  for  I  has  jest  come  to  work  an' 
larn." 

"  How  are  you  off  for  clothes?  " 

"  I  has  these  pants  you  see,  an'  I  can  buy  this 
coat  I  have  on  for  a  dollar.  These  shoes  is  mine, 
an'  I  has  my  working  clothes." 

What  missionary  teacher  could  resist  such  a 
plea,  even  although  the  school  was  already  filled 
beyond  the  capacity,  not  only  of  space,  but  of 
funds?  The  boy  was  taken,  remaining  four  years, 
and  then  going  out,  a  good  scholar,  trained  in 
handicraft  as  well  as  in  books,  to  teach  among 
his  own  home  people  who  "  thought  there  was  no 


30  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

need  of  school,"  and  thus  to  form  another  centre 
of  uplift  and  hope. 

MEMORY   TEST 

What  is  involved  in  the  uplifting  of  homes? 

Describe  the  majority  of  Negro  homes  in  the 
country;  in  the  city. 

Describe  the  dangers  to  home  life  of  the  one- 
room  cabins. 

Why  is  the  lesson  of  the  nobility  of  work 
especially  important  to  the  colored  race  ? 

What  does  Mr.  Washington  say  of  music  les- 
sons and  pianos  among  the  Negroes? 

What  is  the  average  per  capita  expenditure  for 
public  schools  in  Massachusetts?  In  the  country 
as  a  whole?  In  Alabama?  In  North  Caro- 
lina? 

How  many  Negroes  are  there  in  the  country 
to-day? 

What  per  cent,  of  these  in  the  South  are  il- 
literate? 

What  is  the  South  doing  to  better  these  con- 
ditions? 

Why  are  missionary  societies  of  women  needed 
in  solving  these  problems? 

What  does  Mr.  Washington  consider  the  best 
plan  for  the  uplifting  of  the  Negro  race? 

What  is  the  Divine  plan  for  human  help  in  the 
redemption  of  the  world  ? 

Why  do  the  Negroes  of  the  South  need  both 
practical  and  theoretical  training? 


RACE    IN    TRANSITION       31 

Give  incidents  illustrating  the  success  of  such 
training. 

BIBLE  LESSON 
Home  Missionary  Readings 

"What  shall  I  read?  "  It  is  a  frequent  ques- 
tion from  those  called  upon  to  conduct  the  open- 
ing service  at  a  Home  Missionary  meeting. 
True,  one  can  hardly  go  amiss,  since  the  Bible 
is  a  missionary  book  from  cover  to  cover,  but  the 
value  of  a  service  is  distinctly  increased  by  the 
reading  of  Scripture  especially  appropriate  to  the 
theme. 

The  following  selections  are  given  as  illustra- 
tive of  many  that  may  be  made: 

Encouragement  for  Work  in  Desolate  Places. 
Isa.  35- 

The  Command  and  the  Promise.  Luke  24: 
45-47;  Isa.  33:  20-24;  62:  1-7;  40:  28-31. 

The  Call  for  Workers.     Isa.  62:  10-12;  John 

4:  35-36. 

Two  Home  Missionaries.  (Selections  from 
the  books  of  Esther  and  Nehemiah.) 

HYMN  FOR  HOME  MISSIONS. 

(TUNE— "  Sun  of  my  Soul.") 
Land  of  our  love,  thy  daughters  meet 
In  love  and  worship  at  the  feet 
Of  Christ,  the  Lord  of  lands,  to  claim 
Redemption  for  thee  in  His  name. 

The  ceaseless  tide  of  human  souls 
From  either  sea  that  o'er  thee  rolls, 


33  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

Grows  dark  with  ignorance  and  shame; 
We  ask  redemption  in  His  name. 

Thy  simple  children  of  the  sun, 
From  bitter  bonds  so  dearly  won, 
Stretch  forth  their  hands  with  us,  and  claim 
A  new  redemption  in  His  name. 

For  homes  of  poverty  and  woe, 
Where  love  upon  the  hearth  burns  low; 
For  holy  childhood,  born  to  shame, 
We  ask  redemption  in  His  name. 

Lord  over  all,  as  through  the  years 
We  plant  with  joy,  or  sow  with  tears, 
Help  us  to  serve,  'mid  praise  or  blame, 
••  For  love  of  Christ,  and  in  His  name!  " 

MARY  A.  LATHBURY. 


Ill 

IN  THE  SOUTHERN  HIGHLANDS 

"Tl   ^OUNTAINEERS    are    always    free- 

|\/|      men,"  is  the  proud  motto  of  West 

JL  * -1-    Virginia.     The  "  Hymn  of  the  Vau- 

dois  Mountaineers  "  is  the  Magna  Charta  of  all 

dwellers  on  the  heights: 

44  For  the  strength  of  the  hills  we  bless  Thee, 

Our  God,  our  fathers'  God. 
Thou  hast  made  Thy  children  mighty 

By  the  touch  of  the  mountain  sod. 
Thou  hast  fixed  our  ark  of  refuge 

Where  the  spoiler's  foot  ne'er  trod. 
For  the  strength  of  the  hills  we  bless  Thee, 

Our  God,  our  fathers'  God." 

"  I  will  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  the  hills,  from 
whence  cometh  my  help,"  sang  Israel's  Psalmist. 
In  a  very  practical  sense,  "  the  people  of  tired 
cities  "  have  learned  within  a  few  years  that  there 
are  "  help  "  and  strength  in  the  mountain  regions 
of  the  South,  and  the  tides  of  travel  set  that  way 
with  steadily  increasing  force. 

But  health-seekers  and  pleasure-seekers  find 
that  Christian  life  and  civilisation  have  preceded 
them  into  the  heart  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the 


34  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

Alleghanies,  and  the  school  and  the  church  have 
the  right  of  pioneers  in  the  land. 

The  mountain  region  of  Virginia,  Tennessee, 
North  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Alabama  has  a 
population,  according  to  an  eminent  Southern 
writer,  of  about  2,000,000.  "  At  least  four-fifths 
of  these,"  says  the  same  writer,  "  will  compare 
favorably  in  intelligence,  morality  and  religion 
with  any  other  population  in  the  United  States." 
There  are  several  colleges  of  excellent  standing 
in  this  section,  some  of  which  have  passed  the 
half-century,  and  even  the  century,  mark.  Its 
"  scholars,  orators,  ministers,  statesmen,  have  an 
almost  passionate  love  for  the  region  that  gave 
them  birth." 

For  the  condition  of  the  other  one-fifth  of  this 
mountain  population,  geographical  limitations 
are  largely  responsible.  Most  of  the  people  are 
the  descendants  of  English  Puritans,  Scotch 
Covenanters,  and  French  Huguenots.  Here  are 
"Colonial  Dames,"  indeed;  here  are  Sons  and 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  "  un- 
recognised, but  of  none  the  less  genuine  line- 
age." These  isolated  mountaineers  are  of  the 
best  Anglo-Saxon  stock,  with  the  blood  and  tra- 
ditions of  heroes,  "  the  only  portion  of  our  popu- 
lation that  retains  pure  and  undefiled  the  Ameri- 
canism of  colonial  times." 

Men  of  these  mountains  fought  with  honor  and 
distinction  on  both  sides  during  the  Civil  War. 
At  its  close  they  returned  to  their  homes,  drop- 


SOUTHERN    HIGHLANDS     35 

ping  communication  and  contact  with  the  out- 
side world,  and  for  them  the  hands  of  the  clock 
of  Christendom  and  civilisation  stood  still. 

Poor  they  are,  but  self-reliant,  the  axe  and  rifle 
furnishing  their  monotonous  support.  The  loom 
in  the  cabin  home,  the  fireplace  for  cooking — 
sometimes  the  still  hidden  in  the  woods  for  illicit 
whiskey-making — supply  their  modest  wants. 

In  the  Southern  mountains,  as  elsewhere,  the 
homes  are  an  index  of  conditions  and  needs.  And 
here,  too,  as  everywhere  else,  it  goes  without 
saying  that  there  are  good  homes,  comfortable, 
cultured  homes,  homes  of  college  graduates  and 
people  of  refinement  equal  to  the  best  in  the 
land.  It  is  not  necessary  to  picture  these,  but 
others  must  be  shown  in  any  adequate  presenta- 
tion of  the  country's  needs.  They  are  not  unlike 
homes  elsewhere,  North  and  South,  with  the  ex- 
ception that  a  greater  degree  of  geographical 
isolation  has  placed  its  inevitable  stamp  upon 
them.  Dark,  one-room  cabins  in  the  midst  of 
bare,  uncultivated  land,  with  scant  furniture,  and 
that  mostly  home-made,  will  be  rapidly  replaced 
by  better  things  when  the  sons  and  daughters 
of  these  homes,  returning  from  school,  bring 
with  them  the  lessons  there  received  in  home- 
keeping,  garden-making,  cooking,  quickness  of 
brain  to  plan,  and  deftness  of  hand  to  execute. 

All  the  needs  of  the  home  are  not  revealed 
by  its  walls  and  furnishings.  When  the  mother 
in  the  mountains,  shut  away  from  the  blessed  op* 


36  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

portunities  given  to  so  many  of  her  sisters,  en- 
ters the  valley  of  the  shadow  that  a  new  life  may 
come  into  the  world,  how  pitiful  is  the  lack  of 
educated  care  and  skill!  The  Rachel  of  the 
mountains  weeps  as  bitterly  over  the  death  of 
her  first-born  as  the  mothers  in  more  fortunate 
homes — and  with  the  added  pang  that  if  better 
knowledge  had  been  hers,  or  better  medical  skill 
obtainable,  the  sorrow  need  not  have  been. 

The  preaching  of  the  gospel  of  work  is  de- 
manded here,  as  elsewhere.  Too  often  potatoes 
are  dug  only  when  wanted,  in  a  happy-go-lucky, 
hand-to-mouth  fashion;  wood  from  the  unshel- 
tered pile  is  split  for  the  preparation  of  each 
meal  as  it  comes,  and  cotton  and  corn  go  un- 
gathered  until  convenience  serves,  with  little  re- 
gard to  the  resultant  effects  upon  the  crops,  or 
the  pocket-book  or  larder. 

Another  and  a  more  serious  danger  threatens 
the  girlhood  and  womanhood  of  these  homes. 
Mormon  elders,  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing,  tra- 
verse the  mountains,  "  seeking  whom  they  may 
devour." 

"Have  you  any  church  here?"  asked  a 
traveller  in  one  of  the  most  inaccessible  parts 
of  the  Alleghanies. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply.  "  Just  'round  the  corner 
of  that  hill  you'll  find  a  church." 

Into  those  mountain  fastnesses  the  Mormon 
missionary  had  penetrated,  establishing  there  a 
"  church  "  of  the  Latter-Day  Saints,  poisoning 


SOUTHERN    HIGHLANDS     37 

the  minds  of  the  people,  and  luring  them  to  leave 
"  the  strength  of  the  hills  "  for  the  pollution  and 
moral  degradation  of  Utah.  These  men  are  sap- 
pers and  miners  in  the  army  of  him  who  is  ever 
and  always  the  enemy  of  Christ  and  the  church. 
Slowly,  skilfully,  they  are  undermining  our  heri- 
tage of  Christian  liberty  and  true  civilisation. 
When  will  churchmen  and  statesmen  awake  to 
the  danger? 

"  The  great  difficulty  in  the  way  of  improve- 
ment," says  Bishop  E.  E.  Hoss  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South,  "  is  poverty.  Much  of 
the  soil  is  very  poor,  and  yields  only  a  scant  re- 
turn to  labor.  ...  In  many  instances  the  peo- 
ple have  given  up  hope,  and  do  not  look  for  any- 
thing better  than  they  have  known." 

A  writer  in  a  missionary  magazine  gives  a 
vivid  picture  of  conditions  in  this  region: 

"  A  visit  to  the  Southern  mountain  field  meant 
early  morning  starts  and  journeyings  over  un- 
speakable, washed-out  roads,  through  gorgeous 
autumn  woods,  into  dim,  brook-threaded  coves, 
past  rustic  sorghum  boilers  and  primitive  mills, 
into  the  deep  silence  of  the  mountains  sug- 
gestive of  mystery  and  danger  that  the  sight  of 
an  occasional  mountaineer  with  his  rifle  quickens 
and  enhances — then  suddenly  the  open  valley 
and  the  schoolhouse  crowded  with  mountain 
boys  and  girls." 

Prominent  among  the  mountain  problems  of 
the  South  stands  the  need  of  more  schools,  and 


38  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

better  ones,  of  schools  for  the  training  of  hand 
and  eye,  as  well  as  of  the  brain.  Two  months  of 
study — perhaps  in  July  and  August,  with  in- 
different teachers — may  be  better  than  none,  but 
it  is  far  from  being  all  that  should  be  given  to 
young  Americans  of  the  present  day.  "  Why 
does  not  the  State  furnish  good  schools  and  good 
teachers,  as  a  matter  of  self-protection?"  There 
is  one  simple  and  complete  answer  to  this  and 
similar  questions — the  Southern  States  are  poor. 
President  Dabney,  of  the  University  of  Tennes- 
see, is  authority  for  the  statement  that  the  people 
of  the  South  are  doing  as  much  per  taxable  dol- 
lar as  are  those  of  the  North.*  "  The  poverty  of 
the  South,"  says  an  editorial  writer  on  a  New 
York  daily,  "  is  the  fundamental  fact  that  ex- 
plains the  brief  school  terms  and  the  ill-com- 
pensated, inefficient  teachers.  We  can  scarcely 
be  said  to  have  solved  the  educational  problem, 
even  in  New  York  City,  in  view  of  the  failure 
of  the  schools  to  keep  step  with  the  increase  of 
population,  and  it  should  occasion  no  surprise 
that  the  slender  resources  of  the  Southern  States 
are  found  insufficient.  Moreover,  the  ratio  of 
children  to  adult  males  is  surprisingly  larger  in 
the  South  than  in  the  North;  100  to  51  in  South 
Carolina,  against  100  to  102  in  New  York." 
Child  labor  threatens  to  take  from  the  chil- 

*The  taxable  property  in  Tennessee,  for  instance, 
for  each  child  of  school  age  is  $327  ;  in  New  York, 
$2,661. 


SOUTHERN    HIGHLANDS    39 

dren  of  the  South  even  the  limited  education 
provided  by  the  State  law.  Only  the  strong  arm 
of  compulsory  education,  enforced  by  Christian 
beneficence,  to  furnish  the  needed  opportunity, 
can  avert  the  threatening  danger.  "  If  you  save 
the  child  to-day  you  have  saved  the  nation  to- 
morrow/' applies  here  as  well  as  elsewhere. 
"  The  Star  of  Bethlehem  "  of  more  reforms  than 
temperance  "  stands  over  the  schoolhouse." 

It  were  easy  to  picture  homes  that  would 
make  the  heart  of  Christian  womanhood  ache 
with  unutterable  sorrow  and  pity;  schools  that 
are  little  more  than  the  name  might  be  described 
in  truthful  detail;  communities  where  the  homely 
virtues  that  are  a  part  of  the  Anglo-Saxon's 
birthright  have  been  overgrown  by  lust  and  sin, 
are  not  unknown  in  the  Southern  mountains — 
or  anywhere  else  on  this  broad  continent  of  ours. 
But  all  that  is  required  to  show  the  absolute 
necessity  of  help  from  outside  sources,  given  in 
the  spirit  of  Christian  love  and  brotherly  kind- 
ness, can  easily  be  imagined  by  those  whose 
hearts  are  tuned  to  the  cry  of  the  helpless.  The 
free-handed,  open-hearted  South,  the  fortunate, 
prosperous  North — each  must  help,  according  to 
its  ability,  until  the  glad  day  dawn  when  "  the 
mountain  of  the  Lord's  house  shall  be  estab- 
lished in  the  top  of  the  mountains." 

The  line  of  progress  in  this  section  must  be, 
in  the  marin,  from  the  Christian  school  to  the 
Christian  church,  and  then  to  the  Christian  home. 


40  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

We  cannot  hope  to  see  the  beautiful  Southland 
taking  the  position  to  which  it  is  so  royally  en- 
titled without  the  Christianised,  educated  sup- 
port of  these  citizens  of  its  ramparts.  The 
country  needs  them.  They  are  not  anarchists, 
or  adventurers,  there  are  few  foreign  names 
among  them.  They  are  bone  of  our  bone  and 
flesh  of  our  flesh,  Americans  "  to  the  manner 
born,"  and  they  wait  "  upon  the  mountains  "  for 
"  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth  good  tidings." 


IS  IT  WORTH  WHILE  ? 

"  The  cry  for  schools  is  so  great  and  urgent 
that  the  hearts  of  the  workers  are  constantly 
torn  with  longings  to  possess  some  magical 
power  to  grant  these  pleas." 

Students  are  eager  to  work  out  their  tuition 
fees,  and  in  one  school  in  the  Southern  moun- 
tains forty  were  rejected  in  a  recent  fall  term  for 
lack  of  opportunity  to  do  this.  Is  it  any  won- 
der that  industrial  schools  are  popular? 

A  twelve-year  old  boy  in  North  Carolina 
walked  six  miles  to  school  in  the  morning  and 
back  again  at  night  every  school  day  all  winter, 
save  on  the  few  rare  occasions  when  the  family 
mule  could  be  spared  for  his  use. 

"  The  new  boys  who  have  come  to  us  this 


SOUTHERN    HIGHLANDS     41 

term  are  for  the  most  part  larger  boys,  and  some 
of  them  men  grown  in  size,  who  can  just  read  and 
write  a  little,  and  who,  eager  for  an  education, 
enter  the  first  grade  with  the  small  boys." — 
From  a  Mountain  Teacher. 

"  I  was  afeared  goin'  down  there  to  school 
might  spoil  Belvy  and  Gertrude;  but  it  ain't,  not 
a  bit.  They  work  every  bit  as  good  as  they  did, 
and  they've  learned  to  do  a  sight  of  things. 
Belvy,  there,  now,  ain't  been  out  of  the  corn- 
field one  day  since  the  school  was  out,  early  in 
June,  and  Gertie  she  just  gets  the  meals  right 
ahead.  I  tell  you,  I  think  a  heap  of  that  school." 
— Testimony  of  a  Mountain  Mother. 

"  Every  one  of  them  missionary  women  has 
been  just  like  a  sister  to  me/'  said  another 
mother.  "  When  my  poor  little  baby  died,  they 
came  right  in,  and  when  we're  sick  they  ain't 
afraid  to  help  us,  and  they've  told  us  about  the 
blessed  Jesus." 

"  Money  is  scarce  in  the  mountains.  Even 
the  school-child  needing  a  pencil  will  bring  an 
egg  in  exchange.  A  few  days  ago  I  found  a 
woman  and  two  children  waiting  on  the  porch. 
They  had  walked  four  miles.  The  mother  had  a 
chicken  which  she  gave  in  payment  of  her  sys- 
tematic offering  pledge  for  the  church,  and  a  gal- 
lon of  cherries  to  pay  for  a  child's  dress,  while 


42  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

the  little  five-year-old  girl  had  brought  some 
strawberries  to  buy  herself  an  apron." — From  a 
Southern  Teacher. 

"  The  Southern  mountaineers  are  probably  the 
best  people  on  earth  as  raw  material;  their  very 
vices  lean  to  virtue's  side.  The  stores  of  H.  have 
broken  windows  with  bits  of  thin  board  tacked 
in  them  that  a  ten-year-old  boy  could  push  out, 
yet  no  store  is  interfered  with,  though  left  from 
sunset  to  sunrise  without  a  soul  near;  nobody  ex- 
pects anything  to  be  stolen.  .  .  .  These  people 
believe  in  God  and  in  the  Bible — some  may  know 
little  and  care  less  about  them,  but  way  down  in 
their  hearts  they  firmly  believe." — From  'Home 
Mission  Monthly. 

"  The  mountaineers  have  been  reduced  to  their 
present  condition  of  poverty  and  ignorance  by 
the  strenuous  conditions  under  which  they  have 
been  compelled  to  live.  No  one  who  has  never 
himself  experienced  those  conditions  can  realise 
how  terrible  is  their  effect  upon  the  individual 
life,  or  how  great  their  effect  must  be  upon  the 
life  of  a  family  from  generation  to  generation. 
To  live  on  the  mountainside,  and,  perhaps,  in 
the  depths  of  a  forest,  without  roads,  without 
means  of  transportation,  on  such  products  as  the 
soil  outside  the  cabin  door  provides,  and  in  a 
climate  of  great  severity,  will  tell  upon  any  man 
or  woman,  or  family,  or  stock,  however  fine  its 
origin." — Rev.  W .  S.  P timer  Bryan. 


SOUTHERN    HIGHLANDS     43 

"  The  Highlands  were  so  sparsely  settled  as  to 
make  it  almost  impossible  to  perpetuate  the  in- 
herited institutions,  the  school  and  the  church. 
The  few  books  the  first  settlers  brought  with 
them  were  lost  or  torn  to  pieces  by  the  young 
children,  and  a  mental  and  spiritual  famine  has 
been  the  natural  sequence,  the  minds  and  souls 
of  each  generation  becoming  more  and  more 
anaemic  for  lack  of  nourishment." 

Back  in  the  mountains,  a  forty-mile  ride  on 
muleback  from  the  nearest  railroad  station,  is  a 
"  Settlement  "  school.  Many  of  its  pupils  walk 
four  miles  and  back  daily  over  the  rough  moun- 
tain paths  for  the  sake  of  attending  the  school, 
and  the  numbers  are  twice  as  many  as  the  room 
was  intended  to  accommodate,  four  sitting  on 
seats  meant  only  for  two.  Only  teachers  who 
know  what  such  crowding  would  mean  under 
more  favorable  conditions,  in  the  way  of  dis- 
order and  lack  of  discipline,  can  fully  appreci- 
ate the  spur  of  necessity  that  makes  the  children 
eager  for  this  opportunity. 

From  an  isolated  mountain  section  came  the 
call  for  a  teacher.  Those  in  charge  of  the  mis- 
sion school  receiving  the  appeal  carefully  se- 
lected the  one  they  deemed  best  adapted  to  the 
pioneer  work,  and  sent  her  forward  with  their 
blessings  and  prayers.  She  found  a  house  with 
some  rude  benches  and  sixty  children  awaiting 


44  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

her — and  that  was  all.  No  text-books,  black- 
boards, desks,  no  school  supplies  of  any  descrip- 
tion, but  human  lives  to  be  moulded  and  shaped 
for  time  and  for  eternity.  Bravely  she  took  up 
the  work,  and  none  the  less  bravely  was  she  met 
by  her  pupils.  What  mattered  it  that  they  had 
to  kneel  on  the  floor  and  use  the  benches  to 
write  on — it  was  a  chance  to  learn,  and  learn  they 
did. 

The  first  Sunday  brought  still  other  duties  for 
the  young  worker.  A  Sunday-school  must  be 
held  and  church  service  maintained  with  uncer- 
tain help  in  the  carrying  on  of  either.  In  the 
"  parish  "  of  that  young  woman  teacher  to-day 
there  are  twelve  hundred  people  unshepherded 
but  for  the  care  of  this  faithful,  consecrated 
worker,  who  one  day  asked  on  her  knees :  "  Lord, 
what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?  " 

Their  own  words  and  deeds  bear  the  best  tes- 
timony to  the  longing  for  an  education  among 
the  youth  of  this  mountain  region.  The  follow- 
ing incidents,  rich  in  pathos  and  filled  with  the 
pluck  that  wins,  are  reported  in  the  Christian  En- 
deavor World: 

A  young  man  entered  a  college  office,  and, 
touching  the  president's  arm,  asked  in  a  peculiar 
mountain  brogue,  "  Be  ye  the  man  who  sells 
larnin'?"  Before  the  president  could  reply,  he 
asked  again,  "  Look  here,  mister,  do  you  uns 
run  this  here  thing?  " 


SOUTHERN    HIGHLANDS    45 

The  president  replied,  "  Yes,  when  the  thing 
is    not    running    me.      What    can      I    do    for 


you?" 

"  Heaps,"  was  the  only  reply.  Then  after  a 
pause  the  lad  said,  "  I  has  hearn  that  you  uns 
educate  poor  boys  here,  and,  being  as  I  am  poor, 
thought  I'd  come  and  see  if  'twas  so.  Do 
ye?" 

The  president  replied  that  poor  boys  attended 
the  college,  but  that  it  took  money  to  provide 
for  them,  that  they  were  expected  to  pay  some- 
thing. The  boy  was  greatly  troubled. 

"  Have  you  anything  to  pay  for  your  food  and 
lodging? "  asked  the  president. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  was  the  reply,  "  I  has  a  little 
spotted  steer;  and  if  you  uns  will  let  me,  I'll  stay 
wid  you  till  I  larn  him  up." 

Such  persistence  generally  carries  its  point, 
and  the  lad  remained,  and  the  little  steer  lasted 
for  years.  The  president's  closing  comment  upon 
the  incident  is  this:  "I  have  had  the  pleasure 
of  sitting  in  the  pew  while  I  listened  to  my  boy, 
now  a  young  man,  as  he  preached  the  glad  tid- 
ings of  salvation.  Does  it  pay  to  help  such 
boys?" 

The  other  incident  is  even  more  pathetic.  A 
young  boy  applied  for  admission  to  the  college. 
He  had  been  prepared  by  a  former  student,  and 
was  able  to  enter  the  freshman  class.  He 
brought  with  him  a  supply  of  provisions,  rented 
a  room,  and  did  his  own  cooking.  For  months 


46  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

he  worked  and  studied,  making  rapid  progress. 
One  day  the  president  met  him,  and  found  that 
he  was  greatly  distressed. 

As  soon  as  he  could  control  himself,  he  said, 
"  I  must  go  home;  it  is  time  to  be  at  work  with 
the  crop,  it  has  rained  so  much,  and  I  am 
needed." 

The  president  reasoned  with  him,  and  tried  to 
show  him  the  folly  of  giving  up  his  studies  at 
that  time. 

He  broke  down  completely,  and,  sobbing  as  if 
his  heart  were  broken,  said:  "  I  can't  study; 
when  I  take  up  my  book,  I  see  on  every  page  my 
mother  with  a  hoe  in  her  hand,  working  like  a 
slave  to  keep  me  in  school.  I'd  rather  not  be 
educated  than  be  compelled  to  look  at  that  pic- 
ture." 

In  all  probability  the  boy  had  written  home, 
stating  that  he  expected  to  leave  college  that 
day,  for  at  this  juncture  the  mother  appeared. 

Mother-fashion  she  drew  him  into  her  arms, 
and  said,  "  Davy,  my  boy,  would  you  break 
mammy's  heart?  Stay!  Mammy  will  work  for 
her  baby,  and  will  never  stop  until  you  say, 
'  Mammy,  here  is  my  'ploma.'  " 

A  friend  called  to  see  the  parents  of  Dave  at 
their  humble  mountain  home.  It  was  the  month 
of  July,  and  the  mother  was  cooking  at  the  fire- 
place. 

"  Mrs.  Green,  you  ought  to  have  a  cooking- 
stove,"  was  the  comment  of  the  visitor. 


SOUTHERN    HIGHLANDS     *7 

"  I  had  one,  but  I  put  it  in  Davy's  head,"  was 
the  only  reply. 

That  mother  had  sold  the  stove  in  order  to 
keep  her  boy  at  school.  She  cannot  read,  but 
she  was  determined  that  her  boy  should  have  an 
education.  At  his  graduation  she  was  happier 
than  a  queen,  for  she  saw  her  boy  receive  his 
diploma,  and  also  carry  off  second  honors  in 
his  class. 

I  think  that  it  must  somewhere  be  written, 
"  Blessed  are  the  mothers  who  make  a  way  for 
their  boys  to  ascend,  for  their  reward  is  great 
both  here  and  hereafter." 

FACTS  AND   FIGURES* 

"The  census  of  1900  showed  a  population  in  the 
States  south  of  the  Potomac  and  east  of  the 
Mississippi  of  10,400,000  white  and  6,000,000 
black. 

"In  these  States  there  were  3, 981,000  white  and 
2,420,000  colored  children  of  school  age  (five  to 
twenty  years),  a  total  of  6,401,000.  The  school 
enrolment  in  1900  was  60  per  cent,  of  the  en- 
tire number,  and  the  school  attendance  70  per 
cent  of  the  enrolment.  One-half  of  the  colored 
and  one-fifth  of  the  white  children  receive  no 
schooling  whatever. 

*  The  Civil  War,  prostrating  the  South  and  destroy- 
ing its  institutions,  caused  a  great  temporary  increase 
of  illiteracy — a  condition  from  which  the  section  is  rally* 
ing  quite  as  rapidly,  perhaps,  as  could  be  expected. 


48  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

"  The  average  child,  whites  and  blacks  to- 
gether, who  attends  school  at  all,  stops  with  the 
third  grade.  This  means  that  the  average  citizen 
in  the  South  gets  only  three  years  of  schooling  in 
his  whole  life. 

AVERAGES 


Years  in  Value  school  Salary  of 
school        property        teacher 

Days  in    Amt.  exp. 
sch.  year  per  pupil 

N.  C., 

2.6 

$180 

$23.36 

70.8 

$4-34 

s.  c., 

2.5 

178 

23.20 

88.4 

4-44 

Ala., 

2.4 

212 

27.50 

78.3 

3-10 

Ga., 

523 

27.OO 

112.  0 

6.64 

"  In  other  words,  in  these  States,  in  school- 
houses  costing  an  average  of  $276  each,  under 
teachers  receiving  the  average  salary  of  $25  a 
month,  we  are  giving  the  children  in  actual  at- 
tendance five  cents'  worth  of  schooling  a  day 
for  eighty-seven  days  in  the  year! 

"  In  1900  the  percentage  of  illiterates  among 
males  over  twenty-one — native  whites,  the  sons 
of  native  parents — was  in  Virginia  12.5;  in 
North  Carolina,  19;  in  South  Carolina,  12.6;  in 
Georgia,  12.1;  in  Alabama,  14.2;  in  Tennessee, 
14.5;  in  Kentucky,  15.5.  These  are  grown  white 
men,  descendants  of  the  original  Southern  stock. 
In  Mississippi  there  is  a  marked  difference,  the 
percentage  of  illiteracy  being  only  8.3,  directly 
traceable  to  their  better  schools,  established  some 
twelve  years  ago." — President  Charles  W.  Dab- 
ney,  of  the  University  of  Tennessee,  in  an  address 
on  "  A  National  Problem" 


SOUTHERN    HIGHLANDS     49 

A  PRESENT-DAY   PERIL 

"  Next  to  Massachusetts,  South  Carolina 
manufactures  more  cotton  cloth  than  any  other 
State  in  the  Union,  and  the  cotton  mills  of  South 
Carolina  are  mostly  owned  and  operated  by  New 
England  capital. 

"  The  infant  factory  slaves  can  never  develop 
into  men  and  women.  Boys  and  girls  from  the 
age  of  six  years  and  upwards  are  employed. 
They  usually  work  from  six  in  the  morning  until 
seven  at  night.  For  four  months  of  the  year 
they  go  to  work  before  daylight  and  work  until 
after  dark. 

"  At  noon  I  saw  them  sit  on  the  floor  devour- 
ing their  food,  then  topple  over  in  sleep,  in  all 
the  abandon  of  babyhood.  When  it  came  time 
to  go  to  work,  the  foreman  marched  through 
the  groups,  shaking  the  sleepers  and  shouting 
in  their  ears.  The  long  afternoon  had  begun, 
and  from  a  quarter  to  one  until  seven  they 
worked  without  respite.  They  watched  the  fly- 
ing spindles  on  a  frame  twenty  feet  long,  and 
tied  the  broken  threads;  they  could  not  sit  at 
their  tasks,  but  paced  back  and  forth.  The  roar 
of  the  machinery  drowned  every  sound,  the  noise 
and  the  constant  looking  at  the  wheel  reduces 
in  a  few  months  nervous  sensation  to  the  mini- 
mum. The  child  no  more  longs  for  the  com- 
panionship of  all  the  wild,  free  things  that  run, 
fly,  climb,  or  swim.  Children  seven  or  eight 


50  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

who  have  worked  in  the  mills  a  year  lose  the 
capacity  to  play,  and  the  child  who  cannot  play, 
cannot  learn.  When  you  have  robbed  a  child  of 
its  play-time  you  have  robbed  it  of  its  life." 

The  quotation  calls  attention  to  one  of  the 
most  serious  problems  now  facing  the  states- 
men of  the  South,  a  problem  complicated,  alas, 
by  the  fact  that  the  cotton  mills  so  rapidly  being 
placed  near  the  cotton  fields,  are  largely  financed 
with  Northern  money.  Shame  on  Northern  mill- 
owners  who,  forbidden  by  law  to  employ  child- 
labor  at  home,  adopt  it  in  the  States  where  but 
inadequate  laws  exist  for  the  protection  of  child- 
hood! 

Mrs.  Browning's  pitiful  "  Cry  of  the  Children  " 
finds  sorrowful  parallel  in  our  day  and  genera- 
tion, and  a  later  poet  voices  the  pathos  and  wrong 
of  it  all  in  "  The  Children  of  the  Mills  "  : 

They  no  longer  shout  and  gambol  in  the  blossom-laden 

fields, 

And  their  laughter  does  not  echo  down  the  street. 
They  have  gone  across  the  hills  ;  they  are  working  in 

the  mills, 

Oh,  the  tired  little  hands  and  aching  feet! 
And  the  weary,  dreary  life  that  stunts  and  kills! 
Oh,  the  roaring  of  the  mills,  of  the  mills! 

All  the  pleasures  known  to  childhood  are  but  tales  of 
fairy-land. 

What  to  them  are  singing  birds  and  rushing  streams? 
For  the  rumble  of  the  rill  seems  an  echo  of  the  mill, 

And  they  see  but  flying  spindles  in  their  dreams. 


SOUTHERN    HIGHLANDS     51 

In  this  boasted  land  of  freedom  they  are  bonded  baby 

slaves, 

And  the  busy  world  goes  by  and  does  not  heed. 
They  are  driven  to  the  mill  just  to  glut  and  over-fill 

Bursting  coffers  of  the  mighty  monarch,  Greed. 
When  they  perish  we  are  told  it  is  God's  will. 
Oht  the  roaring  of  the  mill,  of  the  mill ! 

—Ella   Wheeler  Wilcox. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  the  womanhood  of  the 
South  is  aroused  on  this  vital  subject,  and  is 
calling  the  attention  of  legislators  to  the  problem 
with  no  uncertain  voice.  But  the  passage  of 
laws  forbidding  child-labor  must  be  accompanied 
by  such  changes  in  the  school  laws  as  will  make 
it  not  only  possible,  but  obligatory,  for  every 
child,  white  or  black,  to  have  a  reasonable 
amount  of  schooling  each  year.  As  matters  now 
stand,  the  Negro  child  has  the  advantage  in  the 
cotton-mill  regions,  owing  to  the  general  exclu- 
sion of  Negro  labor  from  the  factories.  "  While 
the  white  child  goes  to  the  factory,"  says  a 
Georgia  senator,  "  the  black  child  goes  to 

school/' 
* 

A  MOUNTAIN  JOURNEY 

"  Perhaps  you  would  like  to  know  how  I  went 
to  see  about  my  school.  Mounted  on  a  horse, 
with  a  fresh  waist  or  two  tucked  in  a  genuine 
pair  of  saddle  pockets,  I  started  alone  on  a 
thirty-mile  trip.  The  first  afternoon  I  rode  only 
five  miles,  and  stopped  with  friends.  Next  morn- 
ing early,  with  my  lunch  and  corn  for  my  horse 


52  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

in  a  sack,  added  to  my  luggage,  I  started  down 
the  mountains. 

"  Down,  down,  we  went,  by  the  side  of  a  dash- 
ing little  creek,  between  two  and  three  thou- 
sand feet  to  the  river;  then  along  the  river,  and 
up  another  little  creek,  through  forests  and  over 
the  creek  bed,  walking  mostly  in  rocks,  where  it 
seemed  almost  impossible  for  the  horse  to  go — 
of  course  walking  and  leading  the  horse,  till  we 
came  to  the  side  of  another  mountain  ridge. 

"  Here  Molly  and  I  ate  our  corn  and  biscuits 
and  rested.  Then  up,  up,  up,  we  clambered, 
hot  and  tired,  to  the  top.  Then  down  the  rocky 
way  several  miles,  till  we  began  to  reach  human 
habitations  again.  At  about  six  o'clock  we 
reached  our  stopping-place.  Next  morning  I 
rode  on  six  miles  farther,  fording  creeks,  and 
threading  bridle  paths. 

"  On  the  return  I  hitched  my  horse  to  a 
friend's  buggy,  tying  the  saddle  on  behind,  and 
we  went  six  miles  to  the  head  of  the  creek,  con- 
stantly going  in  the  creek-bed,  over  rocks  and 
into  holes  that  it  seemed  must  tear  the  buggy 
up  and  ruin  the  horse.  We  found  a  comfortable 
staying-place  for  the  night,  and  by  sunrise  the 
next  morning  we  were  climbing  the  mountain. 
At  eight  o'clock  we  reached  the  summit,  nearly 
four  thousand  feet  high.  Then  we  went  down, 
then  up  again  to  the  four  thousand  feet  level, 
reaching  home  about  six  p.  M.  I  wondered  how 
many  teachers  had  such  a  trip  to  secure  their 


SOUTHERN    HIGHLANDS     53 

schools." — From  a   letter  written   by  a  North 
Carolina  Teacher. 

MEMORY   TEST 

Locate  the  mountain  region  of  the  South. 

What  is  the  ancestry  of  its  people? 

What  physical  conditions  have  interfered  with 
progress  in  this  section? 

Describe  the  cabin  homes  of  mountaineers. 

What  special  dangers  threaten  the  girlhood 
and  womanhood  of  these  homes? 

Describe  the  child-labor  problem. 

Describe  a  mountain  journey  in  this  section. 

What  is  the  usual  length  of  the  school  year, 
and  why  is  it  not  longer? 

Are  schools  appreciated  by  the  mountaineers? 

BIBLE  LESSON 
Christ  in  the  Home 

In  Childhood. 

Of  noble  ancestry — Matt.  1 : 17. 

Of  lowly  birth — Matt.  13:  55-56. 

His  mother's  familiarity  with  the  Scriptures — 
Luke  i :  46-55. 

His  boyhood — Luke  2:  52. 
In  Manhood. 

Honoring  marriage — John  2 :  2. 

A  neglected  Guest — Luke  7 :  36,  44-46. 

An  honored  Guest — Luke  10 : 38-42 ;  John  12 : 


54  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

A  Sympathiser — Luke  7:  11-15. 

A  Friend — John  11:5,  30-36. 

A  Healer — Luke  4:  38-39. 

The  Conqueror  of  death — Luke  7:  11-15;  &: 

49-56;  Jonn  II:  43-44- 
Christ's  Law  of  Marriage 

As  regards  divorce — Mark  10:  n. 

As  regards  polygamy — Matt.  5  :  27-30. 
The  Home  a  place  of 

Love  and  forgiveness — Luke  1 5 :  20. 

Shelter  and  care — John  19 :  27. 

Rejoicing — Luke  15:6. 
The  Women  of  the  Gospels 

Talked  with  Christ— John  4 :  27. 

Were  His  friends — Luke  10 :  38-39. 

Ministered  to  Him — Luke  8 :  2-3. 

Were  first  heralds  of  His  resurrection — Luke 
24 :  10. 

For  helpful  suggestions  see  "  Christ  and  the 
Home,"  in  "  Imago  Christi."  (Rev.  James 
Stalker,  D.  D.) 

"THINE  IS  THE  POWER" 

(TUNE— Hamburg.)! 
God  of  the  mountain  and  the  star, 
Of  things  anear  and  things  afar, 
For  all  that  human  hands  have  wrought 
We  praise  Thee  for  the  Master  thought. 

Thine  is  the  skill  of  tongue  and  pen, 
Thine  is  the  will  that  works  in  men, 
Thine  are  the  treasures  of  the  deep, 
And  thine  the  secrets  earth  doth  keep. 


SOUTHERN    HIGHLANDS    55 

God  of  the  hills!     Our  hearts  ascend 
To  where  Thy  praises  have  no  end. 
God  of  the  valleys!     O'er  us  rolls 
Thy  tide  of  love  for  wandering  souls. 

God  speed  our  feet!     Oh,  may  they  be 

Glad  messengers  of  love  for  Thee! 

Till  hill  and  valley,  near  and  far, 

Shall  catch  the  gleam  of  Bethlehem's  star. 

Take  Thou  our  hearts,  O  God  of  power! 
We  bring  Thee  love,  our  only  dower. 
Though  poor  and  mean  the  gift  may  be, 
Thy  love  can  make  it  fit  for  Thee. 

— ALICE  M.  GUERNSEY. 


W 


IV 

ON  THE  OUTPOSTS 

FRONTIERS 

*     """"HAT  is  meant  by  a  steerage  passage  ?" 
asked  a  teacher  in  the  course 'of  a 
reading  lesson  in  which  the  phrase 
was  used. 

"  Going  by  ox-cart,"  promptly  replied  a  wide- 
awake youngster. 

To  many  of  us,  "  frontier  "  suggests  something 
quite  beyond  our  personal  knowledge.  Theo- 
retically, we  understand  that  the  whole  country 
is  threaded  with  railroad  lines  crossing  moun- 
tains as  well  as  plains,  and  annihilating  time  and 
distance.  But  there  is  a  lingering  fancy  that 
somewhere  in  the  mysterious  "  out  West "  there 
are  still  regions  to  be  explored  by  "  prairie 
schooners  "  and  "  steerage  passengers  "  of  the 
type  suggested  by  the  boy's  reply. 

Nor,  with  the  substitution  of  foot  or  horseback 
travel  for  the  slow-moving  teams  that  first 
crossed  the  Mississippi,  are  these  fancies  far  out 
of  the  way,  as  the  life  of  many  a  Home  Mission- 
ary abundantly  reveals. 

What  are  the  conditions  of  this,  the  West  that 
is  not,  as  yet,  the  land  of  church  spires  and  com- 
56 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS  57 

fortable  homes?  For  answer  take  these  pictures 
of  what  it  means  to  be  a  frontier  minister: 

"  To  travel  all  day  over  hard  roads  when  the 
winds  blow  cold  from  the  icy  waters  of  Lake 
Superior,  or  the  snow  and  rain  insert  themselves 
inside  your  coat  collar,  while  the  hail  and  sleet 
bite  and  sting  your  face  until  it  is  almost  un- 
bearable; to  spend  days  in  an  unpainted,  bleak- 
looking  town,  visiting  from  house  to  house  in 
the  heat  and  cold,  perhaps  50°  below  zero,  in 
the  shine  or  rain  or  snow;  to  open  the  church 
(if  there  is  one  to  open),  to  sweep  and  dust  it, 
to  fill  and  light  the  lamps,  and  in  the  frosts  of 
winter  to  build  the  fires,  and  then  to  hold  service 
and  do  the  part  of  minister  and  choir — all  these 
things  are  so  commonplace  that  unless  one  has 
a  deeper  motive  than  desire  for  the  sensational, 
he  will  soon  tire  of  them  and  go  back  to  the  East, 
or  to  more  settled  conditions." 

A  minister  in  northern  Michigan  drives  his 
horse  one  hundred  miles  in  one  direction  one 
week,  and  the  next  rides  one  hundred  miles  on 
the  cars  in  another  direction,  to  reach  his  various 
stations.  We  hear  of  a  clergyman  in  South 
Dakota  going  from  one  end  of  his  field  to  the 
other,  to  attend  a  funeral  service — a  horseback 
ride  of  eighty  miles,  and  not  an  unusual  experi- 
ence! 

"  In  Montana,"  says  the  New  York  Observer, 
"  there  are  many  places  where  there  are  no  min- 
isters, and  no  means  of  grace.  Appeal  after  ap- 


58  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

peal  comes  often  in  vain  for  a  minister.  A  mis- 
sionary held  a  service  recently  at  which  some 
were  present  who  lived  sixty  miles  from  a  regular 
church  service,  and  some  who  had  not  heard  a 
sermon  for  nine  years." 

Such  possibilities  as  these,  growing  out  of  the 
magnificent  extent  of  the  country,  are  almost 
beyond  our  comprehension.  "  If  one  corner  of 
the  Synod  of  Montana,"  says  the  same  paper, 
speaking  of  Presbyterian  missions  in  that  State, 
"  could  be  put  on  Boston,  the  other  would  reach 
Cleveland,  Ohio.  ...  A  single  Presbytery  is  as 
large  as  the  whole  State  of  Pennsylvania."  A 
missionary  in  Oregon  writes  thus  of  a  meeting 
held  under  the  auspices  of  a  Woman's  Home 
Missionary  society:  "There  is  no  water  in  the 
schoolhouse,  and  the  day  is  oppressively  hot,  so 
jars  of  water  are  brought  in  a  wagon  from  the 
nearest  house.  Eighteen  saddle-horses  and  four 
carriages  are  outside,  and  the  schoolhouse  is 
filled  with  cowboys,  sheep  herders,  ex-convicts, 
and  a  few  Christian  families.  One  woman  rode 
fourteen  miles  horseback,  carrying  her  baby." 

The  wife  of  a  Methodist  Presiding  Elder  in 
Colorado  says :  "  When  we  first  went  to  the 
Rio  Grande  district  I  thought  I  would  travel  it 
once,  at  least,  to  see  the  country,  and  come  a 
little  in  touch  with  the  people.  But  on  finding 
that  the  railroad  expense  would  not  only  equal 
the  cost  of  a  trip  to  New  York  and  return,  but 
include  that  of  Pullman  and  dining-car  service, 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS  59 

with  tips  for  the  porter,  I  gave  it  up.  I  went 
on  one  occasion  fifteen  miles  up  hill  and  down 
hill,  not  passing  a  house,  till  all  at  once  a  village- 
three  or  four  houses  and  a  store — came  into  view. 
That  fifteen  miles  was  in  one  pastor's  circuit, 
and  fifteen  or  more  miles  in  another  direction 
there  was  another  schoolhouse,  and  about  the 
same  distance  in  another  direction  was  a  third; 
I  know  not  how  many  more  there  were  in  all  of 
which  the  faithful  pastor  preached  and  labored, 
with  discouragements  many  and  salary  less.  .  .  . 
Only  last  year  a  preacher  was  sent  to  a  small  ap- 
pointment, and  a  girl  twenty-one  years  old  for 
the  first  time  in  her  life  attended  a  church  service 
and  heard  a  sermon.  It  was  her  first  opportu- 
nity !  .  .  .  One  man  on  the  Denver  district  has 
to  travel  in  a  one-horse  buggy  eighty  miles  every 
two  weeks  to  reach  his  six  appointments." 

"  You  can  travel  a  hundred  miles,"  says  a  mis- 
sionary in  the  far  Northwest,  "  and  not  see  a 
single  Christian  church,  but  you  cannot  go  so 
far  up  the  mountain  side,  or  so  low  down  into  the 
valley,  or  so  far  back  into  the  magnificent  forests, 
that  you  do  not  see  the  inevitable  beer  signs. 
Wherever  men  go,  this  enemy  of  God  and  man  is 
there  to  meet  them.  Oh,  that  the  Christian 
Church  were  as  wise,  as  eager  to  pre-empt  the 
ground  for  Jesus  Christ ! 

"  In  the  Northwest  peninsula,  within  the  State 
of  Washington,  there  is  untold  wealth  of  moun- 
tain and  forest  and  minerals,  yet  young  men  and 


60  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

women  who  have  lived  there  from  childhood  have 
never  been  in  Sunday-school  and  never  heard  a 
sermon.  They  show  great  curiosity  '  to  see  a 
preacher/  whom  they  think  must  be  a  peculiar 
sort  of  being.  Mormon  missionaries  are  pushing 
into  all  these  places,  and  often  the  largest  church 
in  the  village  is  a  Mormon  church. 

"  The  scenery  of  this  region  is  unrivaled,  the 
climate  ideal.  It  is  a  great  land,  a  great  mission 
field.  The  frontier  preacher  is  doing  heroic 
work,  not  for  money,  but  for  God.  One  young 
preacher,  a  splendid  fellow,  told  me  that  when  a 
cowboy  he  received  $65  a  month,  but  that  the  past 
year  he  had  not  seen  $65  in  twelve  months.  Yet 
he  had  no  desire  to  give  up  preaching." 

Instances  of  like  heroic  devotion  and  self-sac- 
rifice might  be  multiplied  almost  indefinitely. 
"  Hard  for  the  minister  "  ?  Yes,  but  think  of  the 
unshepherded  people!  The  services  of  a  clergy- 
man are  within  immediate  call  to  most  of  us. 
And  these  dwellers  in  the  great  Northwest  are 
people  like  ourselves,  often  people  who  have 
gone  there  from  the  church  and  school  oppor- 
tunities of  the  Central  and  Eastern  States.  To 
make  the  matter  worse,  there  is  more  than  mere 
words  in  the  common  saying  that  "  church  cer- 
tificates get  lost  in  crossing  the  Missouri  River.'1 
The  struggle  for  existence  in  an  undeveloped 
country  pushes  Christian  work  and  often  Chris- 
tian life  to  the  rear,  and  indifference,  which  ends 
in  downright  neglect,  is  the  frequent  result 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS  61 

There  is  nothing  of  glamour  and  excitement 
about  work  in  fields  like  these.  It  is  simple, 
downright,  hard  labor  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  average  yearly  cash  receipts  of  many  a 
clergyman  on  the  frontier  are  well  within  $200. 
On  this  he  cares  for  his  family  t  and  carries  for- 
ward his  work,  while  often  the  college-bred 
minds  of  himself  and  wife  clamor  in  vain  for  the 
food  they  need. 

Frequently  the  scanty  support  must  be  eked 
out  by  work  with  the  hands  during  the  week. 
Of  one  such  the  record  runs  thus:  "  Home,  a 
log  cabin  of  a  single  room ;  furniture  made  from 
dry-goods  boxes,  with  flour-sack  portieres. 
Eight  appointments  and  no  horse.  To  reach 
his  weekday  work  he  must  needs  wade  cold 
mountain  streams." 

It  would  be  unfair,  as  a  rule,  to  charge  priva- 
tions of  this  sort  to  a  lack  of  interest  and  love 
on  the  part  of  the  people  for  whom  such  sacrifices 
are  made.  How  can  they  give  that  which  they 
have  not  themselves? 

Another  phase  of  the  frontier  problem  is  seen 
in  the  mining  camps.  The  saloons  are  there, 
human  souls  are  there,  and  there  must  the  mis- 
sionary of  the  cross  unfurl  the  banner  of  the  Lord 
of  Hosts,  and  call  men  to  the  standard  of  Him 
whose  are  the  silver  and  the  gold.  Out  of  these 
camps  cities  are  often  formed,  but  the  beginnings 
are  in  the  hamlets  and  small  villages,  those  that 
are  "  no  place  for  a  woman,"  where  the  men 


62  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

work,  often  underground,  for  seven  days  in  the 
week,  and  lose  track  of  the  days  as  they  pass. 
Money  is  needed  for  this  work — men  are  needed 
still  more. 

"  I  remember  one  day,"  writes  a  missionary  on 
the  Pacific  Coast,  "  seeing  a  Government  vessel 
from  Nome  pull  into  port  at  Seattle  with  five 
hundred  stranded  miners  on  board.  I  never  saw 
such  a  wretched,  dejected,  desperate  lot  of  men  in 
rny  life.  Lured  on  by  the  gold  of  Alaska,  they 
had  met  with  disappointment,  and  were  coming 
back  with  everything  gone.  They  were,  of 
course,  an  easy  prey  for  the  emissaries  of  Satan, 
who  are  so  alert  to  their  opportunities  in  this 
section.  Would  that  the  Church  realised  the 
possibilities  of  evangelistic  work  among  this  class ! 
Many  have  been  converted  as  the  result  of  street 
meetings  and  other  services  in  Seattle,  and  this 
means  that  fathers  and  brothers,  husbands  and 
sons,  have  not  only  started  Eastward  to  loved 
ones,  but,  best  of  all,  have  started  heaven- 
ward/' 

There  is  no  more  needy,  more  urgent,  more 
difficult  and,  at  the  same  time,  more  hopeful 
field  in  all  the  world  than  the  mining  towns  of 
the  Northwest.  For  by  and  by  comes  the  re- 
flex, the  return  wave,  back  to  the  home  church 
and  to  the  home  community;  whether  that  re- 
turn wave  is  to  be  "  waters  of  refreshment "  to 
those  home  communities,  or  sewers  of  corrup- 
tion, depends  upon  the  vigor  with  which  the 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS  63 

Christian  church  sets  out  to  evangelise,  cleanse 
and  save  the  miners  of  the  North. 

The  political  economist  talks  fluently  of  the 
law  of  supply  and  demand.  Fifty  thousand 
people  moved  into  North  Dakota  in  1901.  How 
many  missionaries  did  the  church  send  there? 
The  passage  of  the  irrigation  bill  by  Congress 
means  the  expenditure  of  $150,000,000  in  the 
next  thirty  years.  This  alone  will  mean  a  won- 
derful broadening  of  frontiers.  In  the  first  four 
months  of  1902  more  immigrants  went  into  Mon- 
tana, Minnesota  and  North  and  South  Dakota 
than  in  all  of  the  previous  years.  Montana  alone 
will  have  4,000,000  acres  additional  homestead 
land  when  fully  irrigated.  Where  the  people 
go  the  church  should  lead. 

The  census  of  1900  brought  to  light  some  start- 
ling facts  concerning  the  distribution  of  popula- 
tion, and,  in  a  sense,  re-located  the  frontiers. 
"  Practically  all  the  increase  in  foreign-born 
since  1890,"  says  the  statistician,  "  has  been  in 
the  New  England  section  of  the  country."  He 
goes  on  to  prove  the  assertion  by  showing  that 
the  present  proportion  of  foreign-born  to  native, 
the  country  over — one  to  six,  in  round  numbers 
— includes  marked  increase  in  all  the  New  Eng- 
land States  except  Vermont,  in  New  Jersey, 
North  Carolina,  Oklahoma,  and  Hawaii,  and  de- 
crease elsewhere.  In  other  words,  the  great 
Westward  movement  of  New  Englanders,  with 
their  heritage  of  church  and  school,  has  left  be- 


64  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

hind  areas  that  would  be  vacant  had  they  not 
been  filled  by  a  very  different  class  coming  from 
the  Old  World — a  class  to  whose  needs  the 
church  of  God  may  not  close  her  eyes  and  re- 
main guiltless — or  safe. 

Hastening  to  make  a  railroad  connection  in 
the  grey  of  the  early  morning,  the  stage  on  a 
certain  New  England  route  climbs  a  long  hill 
and  passes  a  church  at  its  top — built,  as  was  the 
custom  in  the  days  of  its  erection,  on  the  sightliest 
and  most  inaccessible  spot  in  town.  There  it 
stands,  gaunt  and  grim,  the  ghost  of  a  church, 
for  through  its  windowless  casements  and  empty 
door-frames  the  winds  whistle  a  dirge  for  the 
days  gone  by.  They  were  days  of  Christian 
work  and  cheer — days  in  which  the  fire  burned 
upon  its  now  ruined  altars,  and  its  sounding- 
board  echoed  the  Law  and  the  Gospel  proclaimed 
from  its  pulpit.  What  happened?  The  old  mem- 
bers, one  by  one,  passed  away;  the  young  people, 
christened  within  its  walls,  nurtured  by  its  care, 
married  by  its  ministers,  went  their  ways,  some 
to  near-by  cities,  some  to  the  West,  then  so  far 
distant.  There  was  less  and  less  money  for  the 
support  of  the  church  as  time  went  on — the  more 
because  the  farms  around,  which  had  been  the 
abode  of  American  Protestants,  passed  into  the 
hands  of  foreign  Catholics — or  worse.  The  old 
church  stands  in  all  its  desolation,  a  mute  wit- 
ness of  the  past,  a  silent  exponent  of  the  change 
that  has  taken  place  within  the  last  fifty  years, 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS          65 

through  which,  by  curious  reversal,  New  Eng- 
land is  becoming  frontier  ground. 


BY  WAY  OF  ILLUSTRATION 

"A  young  lady, sixteen  years  of  age,  the  daugh- 
ter of  one  of  our  pastors,  came  to  my  home  to 
borrow  books  and  spend  the  night.  She  was 
looking  for  a  place  to  work  for  her  board  and 
attend  school.  Her  entire  wardrobe  was  from 
the  missionary  box,  with  one  exception — her 
hair  was  pinned  up  with  nails !  When  I  told  her 
they  would  ruin  her  hair,  she  said :  '  I  know  it ; 
papa  does  not  know  I  am  out  of  hairpins.  But 
as  soon  as  he  pays  a  sacred  debt  he  is  going  to 
let  me  have  the  first  money  he  earns/  He  is  a 
carpenter,  and  was  obliged  to  work  at  his  trade 
to  support  his  family,  but  was  never  known  to 
miss  an  appointment,  though  some  of  them  were 
forty  miles  distant. 

"  One  year  four  of  our  pastors,  good,  worthy 
men,  received  less  than  one  hundred  dollars  each, 
missionary  money  included.  In  two  of  these 
homes  that  year  the  families  had  but  one  roll 
of  butter  each  from  one  September  until  the 
next.  One  of  our  pastors  received  only  seven- 
teen dollars  for  the  year's  work  on  his  circuit. 
His  wife  supported  him,  selling  milk  from  one 
cow,  and  boarding  the  school  teacher. 

"  Do  not  for  a  moment  think  these  are  things 
I  have  read  of  in  books  in  regard  to  foreign 


66  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

fields,  for  in  our  own  homeland  I  have  visited 
in  these  homes.  I  have  seen  cupboards  that  were 
made  of  book  boxes  nailed  to  the  wall,  one 
placed  upon  another.  The  screen  door,  made  of 
flour  sacks,  dropped  down  as  a  curtain.  I  have 
dined  in  homes  where  the  table,  made  of  dry- 
goods  boxes,  was  without  covering  of  either 
table  linen  or  oilcloth,  simply  the  plain  pine 
board ;  but  it  was  white  and  clean.  The  cracks  of 
some  of  these  parsonage  homes  are  corked  with 
burlap  sacks  and  moss  from  the  trees,  to  shield 
the  inmates  from  the  cold." — Mrs.  J.,  Wife  of  a 
Presiding  Elder  in  Oregon. 

A  little  girl  came  in  from  her  home  on  the 

prairie  to  the  town  of and  one  day  she 

suddenly  asked  her  Sunday-school  teacher : 

"  You  used  to  live  in  Brooklyn,  didn't 
you?" 

"  Yes." 

"  That  is  just  opposite  New  York,  isn't  it?  " 

"  Yes." 

"Wasn't  that  nice?  Then,  whenever  you 
wanted  to  go  to  church  all  that  you  had  to  do  was 
to  go  over  to  New  York  and  you  could  find  a 
church!" 

The  child  did  not  mean  to  be  hard  on  Brook- 
lyn, but  she  had  discovered  the  pleasure  of 
church-going  after  living  where  the  nearest  ser- 
vice was  one  town  away. 

Into  the  primary  room  of  the  same  Sunday- 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS          67 

school  a  stranger  came  soon  after,  and,  looking 
about  in  surprise,  asked  the  teacher: 

"Is  this  the  church?" 

"  No,  this  is  the  Sunday-school  room,  but  the 
morning  service  will  soon  begin.  Won't  you  sit 
down  and  wait  ?  " 

As  they  went  into  church  afterward  the 
stranger  said,  "  I  am  so  glad  you  asked  me  to 
wait.  I  wanted  my  little  girl  here  to  see 
what  service  is  like.  She  has  never  been  to 
church." 

The  little  girl  was  twelve  years  old,  and  the 
teacher  asked  her  mother,  "  How  long  since  you 
have  been  to  a  service  yourself?  " 

"  Oh,"  she  answered,  "  I  hope  you  don't  think 
I  did  not  want  to  go.  If  you  could  see  my  home 
and  know  how  far  it  is  from  the  nearest  church, 
I  think  you  would  understand.  I  haven't  been  to 
church  for  fourteen  years." 

How  to  bring  to  people  like  these  the  priv- 
ileges of  occasional  church  services  is  the  prob- 
lem of  the  Far  West.  The  older  States  are  send- 
ing their  best  sons  and  daughters,  and  scattering 
them  in  the  undeveloped  sections  of  Washington 
and  Idaho;  and  when  money  comes  from  the 
older  States  for  church  work,  it  is  used  to  follow 
up  with  religious  influence  the  men  and  women 
they  have  sent,  who  are  destined  to  make  such  an 
influential  part  of  the  West. 

A  mining  camp  is  not  all  bad.     It  is  rough. 


68  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

Half  the  men  in  any  camp  wish  the  conditions 
were  better.  But  every  man  is  there  to  make  his 
pile  as  quickly  as  he  can,  and  then  to  leave. 
They  rarely  consider  it  a  home.  If  they  can  help 
it,  they  never  bring  their  wives  and  families  with 
them. 

The  great  need  of  these  communities  is  the 
need  of  men  who  care  more  for  their  brothers' 
welfare  than  for  the  speedy  making  of  a  pile. 
The  man  who  falls  sick  in  a  camp,  or  is  hurt  in  an 
accident,  finds  as  much,  yes,  more,  sympathy  and 
generous  help  than  he  would  in  New  York  City 
— unorganised,  individual  help,  too.  But  of 
moral  help,  very  little;  spiritual  help,  almost  none 
at  all. — From  "  The  Spirit  of  Missions." 

A  missionary  worker  in  the  extreme  North- 
west, who  is  thoroughly  familiar  with  that  vast 
field,  writes  thus  concerning  it : 

'  The  great  Northwest  is  rapidly  becoming  the 
richest  and  grandest  section  of  our  country,  and 
must  be  held  for  God.  People  are  pouring  into 
it  by  thousands  every  month,  large  numbers  of 
them  being  the  immigrants  who  land  at  our 
eastern  sea-gates.  They  do  not  tend  to  form 
'  cities  within  cities,'  as  in  the  East,  and  so  are 
easier  to  win  and  to  assimilate  through  gospel 
influences. 

"  Representatives  of  nearly  every  nation  under 
heaven  are  found  in  these  western  cities,  and  all 
are  there  to  stay.  The  great  host  is  augmented 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS  69 

by  the  stream  of  adventurers,  those  who  risk  all  in 
the  wild  rush  for  gold,  men  like  those  described 
in  '  Black  Rock,'  seemingly  given  up  to  sin,  yet 
with  noble  blood  in  their  veins  and  splendid 
qualities  on  which  to  build." 

For  over  half  a  century  the  Home  Missionaries 
of  the  Pacific  Northwest  have  been  plunging  into 
the  forests,  picking  their  way  along  the  trails  of 
the  miners,  burying  themselves  for  months  at  a 
time  in  isolated  places  far  from  the  main  lines  of 
travel.  They  have  sacrificed  without  a  murmur. 
They  have  won  the  respect  of  the  rough  back- 
woodsmen who  hate  shams,  they  have  not  feared 
to  declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God  to  men  who 
did  not  want  to  believe  that  the  Gospel  was  true. 
I  wish  you  might  know  some  of  our  Home  Mis- 
sionary soldiers,  whose  heroisms  are  rarely 
heralded  abroad,  and  who  have  no  martial  music 
to  inspire  them  to  battle.  Let  me  introduce  you 
to  some  of  them ;  here  comes  one  swinging  up  the 
street  on  his  pony;  his  long  ulster  is  covered  with 
mud;  he  has  on  rubber  boots  that  come  to  his 
hips.  His  white  necktie  has  got  around  under  his 
ear.  His  face  beams  with  such  joy  as  danced  in 
the  eyes  of  the  seventy  when  they  returned  to  the 
Master.  The  hand  that  grasps  yours  is  not 
dainty  and  white  like  that  of  the  fashionable 
preacher  who  spends  his  forenoons  over  his 
books  and  his  afternoons  over  the  teacups.  It  is 
rough,  and  brown,  and  strong.  He  has  ridden 


70  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

thirty-five  miles,  through  the  mud,  since  seven 
o'clock  this  morning.  Yesterday  he  went  to  a 
little  church  off  in  the  foothills,  built  the  fire, 
rang  the  bell,  conducted  the  service,  superin- 
tended the  Sunday-school,  led  the  singing  for 
the  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  and  preached 
in  the  evening. 

Here  is  another,  who  has  just  returned  from  a 
trip  through  the  "  cow  "  counties.  Last  Tues- 
day you  might  have  seen  him  on  a  stage  with 
his  felt  hat  drawn  down  over  his  eyes  trying  to 
catch  a  few  winks  of  sleep  between  jolts  as  he 
drew  near  the  end  of  a  journey  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty  miles  from  the  railroad.  On  Wed- 
nesday he  went  with  a  local  missionary  from  store 
to  store  to  raise  money  for  the  coming  year.  In 
the  evening  he  told  the  old  story  of  Calvary  to  a 
rough  crowd  that  filled  the  little  church  to  the 
doors.  Thursday  he  moved  on  fifty  miles,  and 
preached  to  men  who  had  not  heard  a  sermon  in 
twenty  years.  Last  year  he  travelled  by  stage 
and  horseback  and  boat  a  distance  of  27,000 
miles,  and  was  with  his  family  thirty-seven  days 
out  of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five. 

Here  is  another.  He  knows  every  trout 
stream  within  twenty-five  miles  of  his  station, 
can  kill  a  deer  every  shot  at  fifty  yards,  and 
preach  six  nights  in  a  week  without  getting 
tired.  An  anarchist  in  his  town,  hearing  that 
President  McKinley  had  been  assassinated,  said, 
"  I'm  glad  of  it,  he  ought  to  have  been  killed 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS  VI 

long  ago."  When  this  Home  Missionary  heard 
what  his  townsman  had  said,  he  went  to  the  an- 
archist's store,  looked  the  man  straight  in  the 
eye,  and  said,  "  My  friend,  I  understand  you  said 
this  morning  that  you  were  glad  our  President 
had  been  shot.  You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of 
yourself.  I  want  to  tell  you  that  if  I  ever  hear 
of  your  saying  such  a  thing  again,  I'll  give  you 
the  worst  thrashing  you  ever  had."  The  an- 
archist looked  the  preacher  over  for  a  moment 
as  if  noting  the  broad  shoulders  and  the  meaning 
of  the  steady  grey  eyes;  then  he  apologised  and 
said  he  would  never  say  such  a  thing  again. 
That  is  the  way  our  Home  Missionaries  some- 
times preach  the  gospel  of  patriotism. 

Have  you  any  idea  of  the  monotony  amidst 
which  men  like  these  live  and  move  and  have  their 
being  ?  It  is  one  thing  to  delight  over  the  spark- 
ling pages  of  the  "  Sky  Pilot."  It  is  a  second 
thing  to  visit  a  lumber  camp  for  a  day,  or  spend 
a  few  hours  in  a  rollicking  mining  town.  It  is 
a  third  thing  to  listen  to  blasphemy  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  days  in  a  year;  to  give  one's 
heart  and  head  and  hand  to  the  work  with  full 
devotion  for  twelve  months  and  apparently  make 
no  more  impression  on  the  godlessness  of  a  town 
than  if  a  cowboy  had  taken  a  shot  at  the  moon; 
to  face  the  same  rocky  canons  and  the  same 
desolate  hills  month  after  month  and  year  after 
year. — Rev.  Dr.  Edgar  P.  Hill,  in  "  Centennial  of 
Home  Missions." 


72  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

"  Last  Sunday,"  writes  a  city  minister  of  a  sum- 
mer vacation,  "  I  preached  at  a  little  settlement 
on  Mt.  Desert  Island  (off  the  Maine  coast), 
where  one  old  man  came  on  foot  over  two  miles 
to  the  schoolhouse  where  the  service  was  con- 
ducted, that  being  the  nearest  service  he  could 
attend.  Next  Sunday  I  expect  to  preach  at  an- 
other schoolhouse  in  a  distant  part  of  the  island, 
where  there  is  no  service  of  any  kind  all  the  year 
around  but  that  of  a  small  Sunday-school,  which 
is  practically  supported  by  a  lady  resident  in  New 
York  City.  This  little  community  is  so  far  re- 
moved from  any  church  that  it  is  a  physical  im- 
possibility for  them  to  attend.  Yet  there  are 
still  other  places  on  this  island  that  are  even 
worse  off,  and  where  the  children  have  absolutely 
no  opportunity  to  attend  either  church  or  Sunday- 
school." 

ALASKA 

We  think  of  Alaska,  and  correctly,  as  a  region 
of  ice  and  snow.  During  the  winter  months  there 
is  daylight  for  only  a  few  hours  out  of  the  twenty- 
four.  The  cold  is  intense,  icicles  several  inches  in 
length  forming  from  the  moisture  of  a  man's 
breath  in  the  central  and  northern  sections. 

But  this  is  not  the  whole  story.  In  a  country 
nearly  as  large  as  the  whole  of  the  United  States 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  with  a  definite  sum- 
mer, even  though  short,  there  is  room  for  va- 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS  73 

riety  of  climate.  The  southern  coast  of  Alaska 
is  as  mild  in  winter  as  Ohio.  Good  authorities 
claim  that  two  or  three  great  agricultural  States 
will  yet  be  carved  out  of  its  interior.  Wheat, 
rye,  oats,  barley,  potatoes,  turnips,  cabbages, 
strawberries  and  raspberries  grow  well  there. 
Sweet  grasses,  red  top  and  wild  timothy,  stand 
waist-high  in  the  central  plains.  Sixty-two 
kinds  of  flowers  have  been  counted  in  blossom 
at  one  time  on  an  acre  of  ground. 

We  are  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  mineral 
wealth  of  this  region,  although  its  full  extent 
is  doubtless  larger  than  is  yet  dreamed.  The 
royalty  paid  the  government  by  the  seal  fisheries 
alone,  has  balanced  the  purchase  money  of 
Alaska  more  than  twice  over.  Other  fisheries 
are  in  their  infancy,  but,  already,  they  supply 
more  than  half  the  canned  salmon  of  the  world. 

In  1875  there  were  less  than  500  white  men 
in  the  territory.  In  the  winter  of  1901-2,  the 
white  population  was  estimated  at  from  50,000 
to  60,000.  Commerce  and  gold-hunting  are 
rapidly  opening  up  and  pre-empting  this,  one  of 
the  few  unexplored  sections  left  on  the  earth's 
surface.  Will  the  Christian  church  awake  to  its 
opportunity?  The  question  involves  the  whole 
future  of  Alaska.  It  is  a  current  saying  there 
that  "  God  doesn't  exist  beyond  the  sixtieth  de- 
gree of  north  latitude." 

Christian  work,  for  both  whites  and  natives, 
is  imperative  in  this  outpost  of  the  extreme 


74  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

Northwest.  ;'  The  first  cargo  shipped  to  a  min- 
ing camp  is  whiskey.  The  first  establishment 
set  up  is  a  saloon.  And  in  this,  whether  it  be  a 
tent  or  a  hastily  built  cabin,  all  sorts  of  gam- 
bling are  carried  on  for  seven  days  in  the  week," 
the  place  becoming  a  low  dance-hall  as  well  as 
a  saloon  and  gambling-hell. 

A  more  forlorn-looking  lot  than  the  native 
women  and  children  of  Alaska  in  their  natural 
condition  it  would  be  difficult  to  conceive.  Per- 
haps their  chief  characteristic  is  dirt.  The  girls 
are  married  at  thirteen  or  thereabouts,  the  new 
families  thus  formed  becoming  part  of  the  house- 
hold in  the  one-room  cabins,  caves,  or  snow- 
huts. 

There  is  little  of  what  we  recognize  as  the  joys 
of  childhood  among  Alaskan  children.  The 
fearful  storms  that  sweep  peninsula  and  islands 
fill  their  hearts  with  terror.  The  conditions  of 
life  forbid  much  of  the  free,  glad  outdoor  play 
that  is  the  birthright  of  children  in  kindlier  cli- 
mates, and  their  dwellings  offer  no  substitute. 
"  Alaskan  children  seldom  laugh  "  is  a  statement 
full  of  pitiful  significance. 

Even  when  Alaskan  girls  are  under  mission- 
ary protection  in  the  Homes  and  schools,  con- 
stant watch  must  be  kept  against  men  from  'the 
whaling  ships — men  whose  skins  are  white  but 
whose  hearts  are  "  black  as  Erebus,"  and  who 
consider  the  native  girls  their  legitimate  prey. 
Putting  into  port  for  water,  coal  and  provisions, 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS  75 

"  shore  leave "  has  brought  lifetime  suffering 
and  sorrow  for  many  a  girl  in  the  snow  country. 

The  priesthood  of  the  Russian-Greek  church, 
some  of  whom  are  still  uneducated  and  super- 
stitious, finds  free  scope  for  its  mummeries 
among  this  ignorant,  childlike  people.  So  does 
the  medicine  doctor  with  his  theories  of  witch- 
craft and  his  senseless  prescriptions. 

The  enmity  of  the  priests  extends  beyond 
death,  the  village  coffin  maker  having  in  some 
instances  been  forbidden  to  make  coffins  for 
those  who  have  attended  mission  schools.  But 
Christian  womanhood  has  proved  itself  compe- 
tent to  deal  even  with  this  problem,  and  the  ex- 
pectation of  the  priest  that  the  bodies  will  be 
given  him  for  burial  with  churchly  rites  has  been 
disappointed.  So  persistent  have  been  these 
priestly  demands,  that  the  presence  of  the  mis- 
sionary and  the  United  States  flag  in  the  door- 
way have  been  required  to  keep  out  the  intruder. 

But  there  are  brave,  heroic  souls  bearing  the 
banner  of  the  Cross  even  into  mining  camps  and 
native  igloos,  travelling  two  hundred  miles  on 
the  frozen  trail  between  Sundays,  preaching  each 
night  in  some  miner's  cabin.  The  men  needed 
here  are  those  "  who  can  lie  on  the  snow  when  it 
is  60°  below  zero,  -and  keep  healthy,  happy  and 
contented."  Such  men — men  before  they  were 
preachers — meet  with  hearty  welcome  even 
among  the  roughs  of  the  camps — for  these,  the 
advance-guard  of  civilisation,  possessing,  per- 


?6  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

force,  the  same  qualities  of  courage  and  perse- 
verance, are  able  to  appreciate  them  in  others. 

As  everywhere  in  new  sections,  the  messen- 
gers of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  must  bear  to  Alaska 
healing  for  bodies  as  well  as  souls.  One  may 
travel  thousands  of  miles  even  along  the  coast, 
where  settlements  are  most  numerous  and  best 
equipped,  and  find  no  physician.  Western 
Alaska  and  the  Yukon  valley,  populated  with 
thousands  of  men,  coming  and  going  as  sealers, 
whalers,  miners,  and  workmen  in  the  canneries, 
are  practically  without  hospital  or  medical  aid.  To 
these  must  be  added  the  native  Aleuts,  Eskimos 
and  Indians,  whose  condition  is  pitiful  in  the 
extreme,  and  there  are  missionary  graves  in 
Alaska  to-day  that  need  not  have  been  there  had 
there  been  medical  or  surgical  help  at  hand  in 
the  hour  of  need.  "  Graves  of  missionaries  may 
be  like  anchors  holding  the  church  to  a  missionary 
field,  but  living  missionaries  are  better." 

What  this  lack  of  physical  help  in  their  hours 
of  sorest  need  means  to  the  women  of  Alaska, 
can  be  but  faintly  realised  by  their  more  fortu- 
nate sisters.  Hospitals  must  be  provided, 
schools  must  be  established  and  maintained,  in- 
dustrial Homes  must  teach  womanliness,  home- 
making  and  home-keeping.  The  "  all  nations  " 
of  the  Master's  commission  includes  the  Aleuts 
of  Alaska.  But  their  redemption  cannot  be  ac- 
complished without  the  efforts  of  Christian 
womanhood. 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS  77 


ALASKAN  CONDITIONS 

"  Ink  freezes  on  the  pens  of  the  scholars  as 
they  write;  people  in  church  have  to  keep  stamp- 
ing their  feet  to  keep  warm,  and  the  minister 
has  to  break  off  icicles  from  his  moustache  while 
preaching." 

"  Me  sick,"  said  an  old  chief  to  a  missionary. 
"  Me  sick  at  heart.  My  people  all  dark  at  heart. 
Nobody  tell  them  Jesus  died.  By  and  by  all  die 
— go  down — to  dark,  dark!  " 

Although  women  are  recognised  as  the  natu- 
ral burden-bearers  among  the  Alaskans,  yet  the 
right  of  descent  is  on  their  side  of  the  family,  a 
child  inheriting  name  and  property  from  its 
mother  instead  of  its  father.  In  Alaskan  myth- 
ology, the  crow  stands  as  creator,  and  woman 
was  his  first  work.  He  made  her  the  head  of 
the  Crow  family,  man,  a  secondary  creation,  be- 
ing head  of  the  Wolf,  or  warrior,  family. 

Salem  witchcraft  was  as  nothing  compared 
with  the  superstitious  notions  and  cruel  prac- 
tices in  the  homes  of  Alaska.  During  a  grip 
epidemic  the  children  had  to  return  all  their 
slates  to  their  teachers,  as  the  pictures  the  chil- 
dren drew  were  the  "  bad  medicine  "  that  caused 
all  the  sickness,  for  which  the  children  were 
punished.  A  child  less  than  five  years  old  was 
beaten  and  almost  starved  to  death  because  she 


V8  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

was  giving  "  bad  medicine  "  to  a  woman  who 
was  ill.  Hundreds  have  been  tortured,  and  even 
put  to  death,  as  the  authors  of  witchcraft  that 
caused  sickness  or  misfortune. 

The  medicine  man,  or  Shaman,  with  his  horrid 
mask  and  costume,  his  weird  incantations  and 
claims  to  supernatural  vision  and  power,  his 
worse  than  nostrums  and  inhumanly  cruel  treat- 
ment of  some  forms  of  sickness,  is  still  a  power 
in  the  land.  The  people  fear  him,  and  are  in 
constant  dread  of  the  spirits  in  water  and  air 
that  may  any  moment  obey  him  and  inflict  upon 
them  some  dire  disease. 

The  result  is  that  if  a  physician  tries  to  treat 
them  in  their  homes,  they  neglect  his  medicines 
and  resort  to  witchcraft  in  his  absence.  If  the 
patient  dislikes  the  medicine,  or  fancies  it  makes 
him  worse,  they  heed  his  whims.  They  cannot 
appreciate  a  dietary  regimen,  but  feed  the  sick  in 
ways  that  would  ordinarily  kill  the  well.  Ven- 
tilation is  a  thing  entirely  unknown.  Their 
houses,  or  barabaras,  usually  have  but  one  room, 
often  partially  underground,  damp,  filthy,  sick- 
ening. Into  this  family  room,  already  vile,  the 
neighbours  gather  to  sit  with  the  sick.  They 
often  imbibe  "  quass,"  and  gossip  till  drunk. 
Nine  drunken  women  were  sprawling  on  the 
floor  of  a  sickroom  and  filling  the  place  with 
odors  unspeakable  when  our  missionaries  went 
to  see  how  the  patient  was  progressing. — 'Mrs. 
A.  F.  Better. 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS  79 

A  brighter  side  of  the  picture  is  shown  in  the 
devotion  of  Alaskan  Indians,  ten  men  of  the 
mission,  who  for  three  days  in  a  frail  dug-out 
braved  the  open  sea  to  bring  a  physician  across 
sixty  miles  of  stormy  water  to  save  the  life  of  a 
woman  missionary.  When  the  captain  of  the 
native  crew  was  asked  what  reward  should  be 
given  for  such  services,  he  reproachfully  ex- 
claimed, "  Do  not  breathe  any  such  idea  to  my 
men.  It  would  break  their  hearts.  No  amount 
of  gold  would  have  tempted  us  on  that  sea;  but 
she  loved  us  and  we  loved  her,  and  would  have 
died  for  her,  if  need  be." 


TOKENS  OF  HOPE 

A  company  of  Alaskans  were  so  anxious  to 
learn  about  Christianity  that  they  came  to  a 
class  held  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  that 
they  might  be  free  from  interruptions. 

Said  an  old  chief  in  describing  his  conversion, 
"  I've  given  my  whole  heart — not  half  of  it." 

"  I  want  to  come  to  school  to  learn  about 
God,"  said  an  Alaskan  boy.  "  Don't  you  want 
to  learn  about  books?"  asked  the  teacher. 
"  Yes,  books,  but  God  more,"  was  the  boy's 
reply. 

"  The  service  was  mostly  in  the  native 
tongue,"  writes  one  who  attended  a  meeting  of 


80  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

native  Christians,  "  but  we  could  almost  know 
what  they  were  saying  by  the  intonations  of 
thankfulness,  humility  and  supplication,  and  the 
oft-repeated  word  '  Jesus,'  which  is  borrowed 
from  the  English,  as  there  is  no  corresponding 
word  in  their  language." 

"  Most  of  the  native  Christians^'  says  a  mis- 
sionary, "  are  very  careful  to  keep  the  Sabbath 
rest.  One  man,  who  makes  his  living  by  freight- 
ing goods  up  the  river,  lost  a  good  job  because 
he  would  not  load  on  Sunday;  another  lost  the 
sale  of  a  boatload  of  salmon  because  he  would 
not  travel  on  Sunday  to  deliver  the  fish  to  the 
cannery." 

Out  of  its  poverty  and  with  but  limited  re- 
sources, the  Presbytery  of  Alaska  is  credited 
with  an  annual  contribution  of  "  about  four  dol- 
lars per  member  for  Christ's  kingdom."  "  Were 
there  not  ten  cleansed?  Where  are  the  nine?" 

The  teacher  and  the  missionary,  the  church 
and  the  school,  have  exerted  a  stronger  influ- 
ence for  the  elevation,  civilisation,  and  educa- 
tion of  the  Alaskan  native,  than  any  and  all  other 
forces  combined. — From  the  Official  Report  of  a 
Governor  of  Alaska. 

MEMORY   TEST 

Locate  the  frontiers. 

Describe  homes  occupied  by  frontier  min- 
isters. 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS          81 

Describe  the  travelling  that  must  be  done  by 
a  frontier  minister. 

What  conditions  are  found  in  the  mining 
camps? 

What  connection  has  the  passage  of  the  irri- 
gation bill  with  Home  Mission  work? 

What  change  has  taken  place  in  New  England 
since  1890? 

What  are  the  physical  conditions  of  Alaska? 

Has  its  purchase  paid  from  a  financial  stand- 
point? 

Why  is  the  Territory  being  explored  ? 

What  does  this  mean  to  the  Christian  church? 

Describe  Alaskan  homes. 

What  are  the  special  needs  of  Alaska  from  the 
Christian  standpoint? 

From  whom  does  an  Alaskan  child  inherit 
name  and  property? 

What  is  the  state  of  medical  knowledge  among 
this  people? 

BIBLE  LESSON 
A  Dozen  Questions 

1.  In  what  respect  was  Esther  typical  of  the 
Home  Missionary  Worker? 

2.  Which  is  the  patriotic,  and,  therefore,  the 
Home  Missionary,  Psalm? 

3.  What  was  God's  test  of  true  giving  when 
the  tabernacle  was  built? 

4.  Find  a  motto  for  Home  Mission  work  in 
the  story  of  Rahab. 


82  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

5.  What  word  of  Manoah  may  well  be  the 
question  of  missionary  societies? 

6.  What  descriptions  of  work  are  found  in 
i  Chron.,  Chapters  4-12?     What  is  their  appli- 
cation to  missionary  work? 

7.  What  Jewish  priest  arranged  a  mite  box 
for  the  receipt  of  offerings  for  the  Lord? 

8.  What  miracle  did  Christ  work  in  response 
to  the  faith  of  an  immigrant  ? 

9.  What  definite  command  for  Home   Mis- 
sionary work  was  given  by  Christ? 

10.  Was  the  work  of  Dorcas,  Home  Mission- 
ary or  church  work? 

11.  Who  was  the  deaconess  of  the  church  at 
Cenchrea,  and  what  is  said  of  her  work? 

12.  What  prophecy  for  the  home  church  was 
made    by    Paul,    the    great    foreign    mission- 
ary? 


AMERICA  FOR  CHRIST 
(TUNE— "  From  Greenland's  Icy  Mountains.") 

We  claim  our  land  for  Jesus, 
Its  vales  and  towering  hills, 

Its  cities  full  and  hamlets, 
Its  brooks  and  gurgling  rills. 

We  claim  its  wealth  for  Jesus, 
Its  lowly  poor  we  claim, 

Its  native-born  and  alien, 
^    Of  every  hue  and  name. 


ON    THE    OUTPOSTS          83 

Around  us  souls  are  dying, 

They  perish  at  our  door; 
The  land  is  full  of  sighing 

And  sin,  from  shore  to  shore. 
Gladly  we  toil  to  save  them, 

From  death  to  make  them  free, 
For  Him  whose  life  He  gave  them, 

Far  back  at  Calvary. 

— T.  E.  ROACH. 


V 

CHILDREN  OF  THE  ORIENT 

IN   THE  HAWAIIAN  ISLANDS 

THE  guns  of  Admiral  Dewey  in  Manila 
Harbor  settled  at  once  and  forever  a 
question  that  had  been  under  considera- 
tion for  half  a  century.  It  is  a  literal  fact  that 
no  man-of-war  can  cross  the  Pacific  and  be  of 
any  service  after  reaching  Manila  without  re- 
coaling  on  the  way.  Neither  troops  nor  ships — 
mercantile  or  naval — can  be  sent  to  the  Philip- 
pine Islands  without  a  halfway  place  at  which 
they  may  obtain  needed  supplies.  There  had  been 
a  dim  realisation  of  the  fact  that  sometime, 
somehow,  the  Hawaiian  group  might  be  of  value 
to  us,  and  in  1843  tne  United  States  notified  the 
world  that  it  would  not,  without  opposition,  per- 
mit any  other  power  to  take  possession  thereof. 
But  with  direct  and  important  interests  on  the 
other  side  of  the  sea,  our  acquisition  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  became  a  necessity. 

But  stronger  bonds  than  those  of  trade  or 

treaty  had  linked  the  two  countries   together, 

and  made  possible  the  political  union  of  the  two. 

Oahu  and  its  sister  islands  were  already  ours 

84 


THE    ORIENT  85 

by  virtue  of  the  Christianity  that  fitted  them  to 
take  place  by  our  side,  one  sovereign  nation  mak- 
ing agreement  with  another.  The  history  of 
missionary  work  in  the  kingdom  reads  like  a 
romance.  In  1818  the  islanders  abandoned 
idolatry,  and  became  "  a  people  without  a  re- 
ligion." The  next  year,  knowing  nothing  of 
that  action,  but  following  the  leadings  of  Provi- 
dence, a  little  band  of  missionaries,  bidding  fare- 
well to  home  and  loved  ones  in  old  Park  Street 
Church,  hard  by  Boston  Common,  sailed  for 
Honolulu.  Between  that  date  and  1853  some- 
thing over  $900,000  was  expended  in  mission 
work  on  the  islands.  By  that  time,  they  ceased 
to  be  missionary  ground.  What  the  change 
meant,  from  the  very  lowest  commercial  stand- 
point, may  be  gathered  from  a  single  illustra- 
tion: in  1897  the  Hawaiian  exports  to  the  United 
States  alone  amounted  to  more  than  ten  and  a 
half  million  dollars. 

"  In  seventy  years,"  says  a  recent  writer,  "  the 
islands  have  been  raised  from  the  lowest  degra- 
dation to  a  condition  of  average  literacy  higher 
than  that  of  all  other  countries  save  the  United 
States,  Prussia,  and  Switzerland,  and  to  a  wealth 
per  capita  averaging  greater  than  any  other 
country  in  the  world.  The  first  printing-press 
on  our  Pacific  coast  was  sent  thither  from  Hono- 
lulu, and  while  Indians  and  buffalo  roamed  the 
'  new  West '  at  will,  Hawaii  furnished  the  gold 
hunters  of  1849  w*tn  potatoes  and  wheat." 


86  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

The  Hawaiian  Islands  are  "  a  veritable  land 
of  sunshine  and  breezes,"  having  almost  uniform 
temperature,  no  hurricanes,  and  thunderstorms 
but  rarely.  The  native  language  has  no  word 
to  express  "  weather,"  and  one  wonders  what 
the  people  do  for  a  staple  of  conversation. 

Hawaiian  women  were  not  beasts  of  burden, 
but  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  their  husbands 
and  shared  their  counsels.  The  native  race,  in 
unmixed  form,  is  rapidly  decreasing,  but 
through  intermarriage  with  stronger  races  a  new 
and  fine  national  character  is  being  evolved. 
With  such  conditions  it  would  seem  there  was 
little  field  for  missionary  effort  from  the  main- 
land, and  little  need  of  such  help. 

Nor  would  there  be  if  this  were  all.  But  other 
races  and  other  conditions  are  there.  Accord- 
ing to  the  census  of  1896,  the  total  female  popu- 
lation of  the  islands  is  36,503,  of  whom  5195  are 
Japanese,  and  2440  Chinese.  Of  the  114,000 
people  in  Hawaii,  one-fifth  are  Japanese,  one- 
fourth  Chinese.  Of  the  9000  Japanese  in  Hono- 
lulu, looo  are  women;  and  of  these  women  less 
than  twenty  attend  Christian  services,  the  vast 
majority  being  Buddhists,  as  are  most  of  the 
Chinese  and  Japanese  on  the  islands.  Of  the 
others,  52  per  cent,  of  the  Japanese  are 
Mormons,  and  5.14  per  cent,  of  the  Chinese. 
Nor  are  these  unintelligent,  ignorant  masses. 
The  per  cent,  of  those  able  to  read  and  write 
stands  as  follows: 


THE    ORIENT  87 

Natives,  83.97;  Japanese,  52.60;  Chinese, 
48.47. 

Of  the  Japanese  of  school  age,  94.55  per  cent, 
attend  school;  of  the  Chinese,  92.48  per  cent. 

Buddhism  upon  our  shores!  Womanhood  in- 
sulted and  degraded  by  idolatrous  rites  and  cus- 
toms !  There  is  imminent  danger  to  the  fair 
land  of  the  Southern  seas,  danger  that  she  can- 
not meet  alone.  She  needs  the  help  of  America 
and,  especially,  of  American  womanhood. 


HAWAIIAN  ASIATICS 

"  Chinamen  substantially  fill  the  majority  of 
places  in  the  machine,  carpenter  and  other  shops 
where  expert  work  is  requisite,  and  leave  few 
vacancies  in  fields  of  labor  less  exacting.  And 
the  Chinaman  carries  his  competition  farther, 
and  with  as  great  success — he  very  nearly  mo- 
nopolises the  lower  class  of  Hawaiian  women. 
.  .  .  He  is  the  very  quintessence  of  industry,  the 
only  man  in  the  Far  East  who  continues  work- 
ing after  he  has  accumulated  a  couple  of  dollars. 
.  .  .  He  is  a  good  provider  and  kind  to  the 
weaker  members  of  the  household ;  so  in  Hawaii, 
as  in  Siam,  the  native  woman  marries  him  in 
preference  to  her  own  countryman.'* 

The  Japanese  are  eager,  active  and  restless. 
Intensely  patriotic,  keenly  alive  to  the  place  of 
Japan  among  the  nations,  they  form  to-day  a 


88  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

difficult  element  in  the  population.  The  mass 
of  those  in  the  islands  are  from  the  lowest  ele- 
ments in  Japan,  and  they  have  not  proved  the 
most  desirable  laborers  or  the  best  citizens.  As 
a  rule  they  do  not  bring  their  wives  with  them, 
and,  as  they  never  marry  the  Hawaiians,  their  ex- 
ample and  influence  are  not  on  the  side  of  mo- 
rality. 

The  Hawaiians  are  an  easy-going,  kindly 
people,  winsome  and  charming  in  their  friend- 
ships, lovable  in  their  ways  and  easily  led  for 
good  or  evil.  They  have  the  lines  of  strength 
and  weakness  which  they  share  with  other  chil- 
dren of  the  tropics.  They  are  not  a  commercial 
people.  They  care  little  for  money-making,  still 
less  for  the  accumulation  of  wealth.  They  are 
generous  givers  and  live  luxuriously  so  long  as 
the  money  lasts.  They  lack  the  qualities  of  lead- 
ership, and  will  never  be  an  influential  factor  in 
the  commercial  development  of  the  islands. 

The  Chinese  of  Hawaii  are  not  generally  un- 
derstood in  the  United  States.  They  are  differ- 
ent from  their  countrymen  in  America.  We 
think  here  of  the  laundrymen  and  the  keepers 
of  the  dens  of  Chinatown.  In  America  they  live 
apart,  aloof,  with  us  but  not  of  us.  In  Hawaii 
many  of  the  Chinese  marry  Hawaiian  women 
and  settle  down  for  life.  They  are  at  home  to 
live  and  die.  They  are  industrious,  frugal  and 
law-abiding.  To-day  they  control  the  business 
of  market-gardening  in  Honolulu.  The  ducks 


THE    ORIENT  89 

and  chickens  are  raised  and  sold  by  them.  The 
small  shops  and  stores  in  all  the  islands  are 
manned  by  them.  They  make  shoes  and  houses. 
They  are  tailors  and  dressmakers,  plumbers  and 
painters — the  Yankees  of  the  East.  The  China- 
man is  a  public-spirited  citizen,  and  his  children 
are  in  the  public  school.  Of  all  the  many  mix- 
tures of  race  in  Hawaii,  the  best  is  the  cross  be- 
tween the  Hawaiian  and  the  Chinese.  The  child 
of  this  union  has  the  good  qualities  of  both  par- 
ents— the  kindly,  gracious  spirit  of  the  Hawaiian 
and  the  virile,  aggressive  intelligence  of  the 
Chinese.  He  is  to-day  one  of  the  most  useful 
elements  of  the  varied  population,  and  the  United 
States,  if  she  has  the  interest  of  Hawaii  at  heart, 
should  permit  more  of  the  Chinese  to  settle  in 
the  Islands.  Five  thousand  of  the  better  grade 
would  be  a  blessing  there  to-day. — From  "  The 
Southern  Workman." 


THE   CHINESE 

"These  from  the  land  of  Sinim,"  said  Isaiah, 
enumerating  those  who  were  destined  to  share 
the  blessings  of  "  the  Redeemer,  the  Holy  One 
of  Israel."  Interpreting  the  word  to  mean 
"  China/'  we  have  given  scant  evidence  in  this 
country  of  willingness  to  help,  through  personal 
effort,  the  people  named  by  the  prophet.  The 
Chinese  question,  so  far  as  Home  Missionary 
work  is  concerned,  is  almost  everywhere.  No 


90  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

city  of  any  considerable  size,  the  country  over, 
lacks  its  laundries  manned  by  almond-eyed  Ce- 
lestials and  patronised  by  men  and  women  of 
Christian  churches.  How  many  of  these  laun- 
drymen  have  been  taught  of  Him  who  maketh 
the  sinful  heart  "  whiter  than  snow  "  ? 

Little  as  has  been  done  for  Chinese  men,  still 
less,  in  proportion  to  their  numbers,  has  been 
done  for  the  women  of  the  Orient  who  have 
come  to  this  country.  The  conditions  that  con- 
front the  Home  Missionary  worker  among  the 
Chinese  are  most  serious  in  San  Francisco.  Be- 
hind barred  windows,  in  dark,  unhealthful  dens, 
sit  Chinese  slave  girls,  the  victims  of  the  lust 
and  greed  of  their  masters,  bought  and  sold,  de- 
graded and  suffering.  Often  they  are  little  girls 
— mere  children  who  should  find  in  God's  free 
sunlight  and  clear  air  the  blessings  that  belong 
to  childhood.  "  They  know  no  worship  except 
that  of  incense-burning,  exploding  fire-crackers 
and  other  combustible  Chinese  prayers."  Even 
if  rescued,  they  are  not  safe,  for  recapture,  in 
spite  of  the  law,  would  be  almost  inevitable  if 
they  went  on  the  street  without  white  protec- 
tion. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  before  the  opening  of 
Mission  homes  in  California  many  a  Chinese 
woman  ended  the  life  that  seemed  so  hopeless? 

One  who  is  thoroughly  conversant  with  con- 
ditions on  the  Pacific  coast  writes  of  them  thus: 

"  We  have  no  need  to  cross  the  seas  and  pene- 


THE    ORIENT  91 

trate  the  jungles  of  far-away  tropical  lands  to 
find  missionary  work;  a  heathenism  dark  as  any 
found  in  the  wilds  of  Africa  or  the  islands  of 
the  South  Seas  is  to  be  found  at  our  own  doors. 
Ever  since  the  Chinese  set  foot  upon  the  shores 
of  California  human  chattel  slavery  has  existed. 
The  army  of  custom-house  officials,  the  laws  of 
the  land,  the  whole  power  of  a  united  Christian 
sentiment,  backed  by  the  moral  sentiment  of  the 
whole  community,  have  thus  far  been  but  a  por- 
tiere of  cobwebs  across  the  Golden  Gate  so  far 
as  excluding  these  yellow-faced  slaves  is  con- 
cerned. 

"  Five  thousand  Chinese  women  in  California 
— fifteen  hundred  of  them  in  San  Francisco,  two 
hundred  of  whom  are  little  slave  girls — are  slaves 
in  free  America.  These  slave  girls  on  our  Pacific 
coast  have  been  bought  or  kidnapped  in  China, 
brought  to  this  free  country,  sold  in  the  silent 
slave  markets  of  San  Francisco,  and  doomed  to 
a  slavery  that  passes  description." 

In  combating  these  evils  the  missionaries 
fight  almost  single-handed  against  a  large  and 
wealthy  association  of  slave-dealers,  who  are  as- 
sisted by  lawyers  and  others  of  our  own  blood, 
men  who  can  be  bought  by  highbinders'  money ! 
Less  intense,  perhaps,  but  none  the  less  pitiful, 
is  the  condition  of  Japanese  women  and  girls  on 
our  Pacific  coast.  Only  Christianity  creates 
homes. 

"  The  Chinese  bring  their  idolatry  with  them. 


92  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

They  set  up  their  heathen  temples  under  the 
shadow  of  our  Christian  churches.  There  are 
eighteen  of  these  temples  in  San  Francisco  alone. 
The  newest,  largest,  and  finest  is  that  ...  on 
Waverly  Place.  .  .  .  The  principal  idol  in  it  is 
a  great,  red-faced,  hideously  grotesque  Joss, 
dressed  in  gaudy  robes,  called  Kwan  Tai,  the 
god  of  war.  .  .  .  The  temple  is  fitted  out  with  all 
the  paraphernalia  of  heathen  worship." 

In  the  temple  of  the  Kong  Chow  Company, 
there  was  recently  sold  to  a  temple  keeper,  for 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  the  exclusive  right  for 
a  year  to  sell  the  things  used  in  idolatrous  wor- 
ship. Verily,  idolatry  is  not  yet  dead! 

"  The  worship  of  ancestors,  the  strong  belief 
that  every  nook  and  cranny  of  creation  is  filled 
with  evil  spirits,  as  well  as  the  grosser  forms  of 
idolatry,  have  wrapped  the  Chinese  in  the  in- 
tricate meshes  of  the  most  debasing  superstition. 
The  work  of  Christianising  this  great  '  Gibraltar 
of  heathenism  '  on  our  Western  coast  is  a  task 
which  nothing  but  the  divine  power  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  Jesus  Christ  can  ever  accomplish. 

"  The  Chinaman  will  never  make  America  his 
permanent  home.  This  is  the  very  reason  why 
we  should  give  him  the  Gospel  to  take  home 
with  him.  ...  To  this  nation  is  now  being  given 
one  of  the  most  wonderful  opportunities  that  has 
ever  been  offered  for  helping  forward  the  King- 
dom of  God  on  the  earth.  Through  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Chinese  empire  who  have  provi- 


THE    ORIENT  93 

dentially  come  to  our  shores  we  can  send  back 
the  saving  and  enlightening  influences  of  the 
Gospel,  thus  preparing  a  belated  people  to  take 
their  place  in  the  world's  onward  march.  How 
are  we  meeting  this  grave  responsibility?  " 


FOREIGN   MISSIONS   AT  HOME 

Sons  shall  be  his,  on  couches  lulled  to  rest. 

The  little  ones,  enrobed,  with  sceptres  play; 
Their  infant  cries  are  loud  as  stern  behest; 

Their  knees  the  vermeil  covers  shall  display. 
As  king,  hereafter,  one  shall  be  addressed: 

The  rest,  as  princes,  in  our  states  shall  sway. 

And  daughters  also  to  him  shall  be  born. 

They  shall  be  placed  upon  the  ground  to  sleep : 
Their  playthings,  tiles;  their  dress,  the  simplest 

worn: 

Their  part  alike  from  good  and  ill  to  keep, 
And  ne'er  their  parents'  hearts  to  cause  to  mourn; 
To  cook  the  food,  and  spirit  malt  to  keep. 

— From  a  Chinese  Classic. 


House-to-house  visiting  among  women  and 
children  in  Chinatown  leads  up  narrow,  filthy 
stairs  to  the  third  and  fourth  stories,  and  often 
down  into  dark  basements.  The  rooms  are  more 
than  crowded,  many  without  windows  or  means 
of  ventilation,  save  possibly  through  transoms, 
less  than  seven  feet  square  in  area;  the  odor  is 
almost  unendurable.  Whole  families  are  packed 
in  these  little  boxes  of  rooms. 


94  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

The  Chinese  are  much  harder  to  reach  in  this 
country  than  in  China.  They  are  not  going  to 
change  their  religion  until  convinced  that  they 
have  found  something  better.  They  suppose  that 
all  Europeans  are  Christians,  while  the  fact  is 
that  the  class  of  Europeans  coming  most  in  con- 
tact with  the  Chinese  are  not  Christians,  but  very 
far  from  it.  Those  who  hang  around  China- 
town are  far  more  degraded  beings  than  the 
very  worst  of  the  Chinese,  and  the  manner  in 
which  the  Gospel  is  represented  to  these  poor 
people  is,  to  say  the  least,  extremely  confusing. 
They  often  say:  "The  missionary  tells  us,  get 
Holy  Spirit  in  our  heart.  Make  bad  man  good. 
No  more  cheat.  No  more  steal.  Make  him 
very  good.  I  see  white  man.  He  say  he 
Christian.  He  not  good.  Lie,  cheat,  swear,  all 
the  same  heathen  Chinese." 

The  slave  question  alone  is  enough  to  arouse 
righteous  indignation  in  the  heart  of  every  per- 
son who  can  read  and  understand  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States.  Consider  the  fact 
that  fifteen  hundred  slave  girls  are  held  in  bond- 
age against  their  will,  behind  barred  windows, 
bolted  doors,  and  locked  gates,  watched  and 
guarded  by  white  men  employed  by  the  slave 
owner  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  the  poor, 
unfortunate  creatures  escaping  to  the  missions. 
These  white  men  receive  a  good  salary  for  their 
nefarious  business,  and  the  girls  are  compelled 
to  lead  a  life  of  shame,  no  matter  how  young 


THE    ORIENT  95 

and  tender  their  years,  or  how  much  they  abhor 
the  life.  The  slave  owner  has  paid  between 
$1500  and  $2500  for  his  chattel,  and  she  is  his 
to  do  with  as  he  pleases,  to  beat,  to  scourge,  to 
burn  with  red-hot  irons  in  case  she  refuses  to 
make  money  for  him.  She  is  completely  in  his 
power. 

Recently  a  nine-months-old  baby  girl  was 
sold  for  $350,  the  money  going  to  pay  the  bal- 
ance due  on  her  parents'  wedding  feast.  The 
little  girl  will  be  raised  as  a  domestic  slave,  and 
when  old  enough  will  be  sold  into  a  life  of 
shame  for  the  sum  of  $2000  or  more.  These 
slave  girls  are  often  maltreated  and  made  to 
carry  burdens  far  too  heavy  for  their  strength 
and  years.  Girls  ranging  from  seyen  to  ten 
years  are  obliged  to  carry  a  large,  bouncing, 
Chinese  baby  boy  strapped  on  their  backs,  where 
he  takes  his  nap  in  the  daytime.  I  have  seen 
these  ill-fed,  poorly  clad  little  creatures  carrying 
a  boy  from  a  year  and  a  half  to  two  years  old, 
their  bent  bodies  swaying  under  the  burden, 
and  in  going  down  an  inclined  street  spreading 
their  feet  to  balance  themselves.  Woe  to  them 
if  they  should  happen  to  slip  or  fall  with  the 
precious  son  and  heir! 

The  children  of  the  master  are  often  tyrannical 
to  the  slave  girl.  To  illustrate,  we  have  the  case 
of  little  Kwan  Ho,  who  was  found  crouched  in  a 
corner  of  the  "  Chamber  of  Tranquillity  "  in  the 
horrible  presence  of  the  dead  and  dying,  and 


96  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

burdened  with  the  thought  that  she  was  there 
to  remain  without  food  until  death  released  her 
from  her  sufferings.  The  horrors  of  this  place 
can  never  be  adequately  told,  with  its  filth,  its 
stench,  its  vermin,  and  its  gruesome  darkness, 
but  little  Kwan  Ho  was  kept  there  for  twenty- 
four  hours — a  poor  little  cripple,  suffering  in- 
tensely from  a  cruel  injury  to  her  spine  caused  by 
a  blow  with  an  iron  rod  in  the  hands  of  one  of 
her  master's  children. 

It  is  much  harder  now  to  rescue  slaves  from 
dens  than  hitherto.  The  slave-dealers  are 
bolder;  upheld  by  our  officials  they  break  the 
laws,  and  defy  us  and  all  our  efforts  to  rescue 
the  girls.  Recently  the  entrances  to  several  al- 
leys have  been  boarded  up,  the  gates  being  pad- 
locked, and  guarded  by  white  watchmen.  On 
the  outside  of  the  gates  is  posted  this  notice, 
"  Private.  No  white  person  allowed  inside  with 
or  without  guides."  Within  these  gates  are  sev- 
eral hundred  slave  girls,  who  are  living  vile 
lives  at  the  command  of  the  greedy  master. 

Some  of  the  girls  forced  to  lead  this  life  were 
kidnapped  in  China.  One  girl,  a  tea-picker, 
while  on  her  way  to  her  work  was  drugged, 
carried  away,  and  put  down  in  the  hold  of  one 
of  the  steamships  plying  between  this  port  and 
China.  Coached  by  the  Chinese  steward,  she 
was  taught  to  say  that  she  had  been  born  in 
San  Francisco,  naming  the  street  and  number  of 
the  house,  and  the  room,  that  she  had  been  to 


THE    ORIENT  97 

China  to  see  her  grandmother,  and  was  now 
returning  to  her  parents.  She  was  shown  a  pic- 
ture of  the  man  and  woman  whom  she  was  to 
claim  as  father  and  mother,  but  who  were  in 
fact  keepers  of  the  slave  den.  She  was  told 
that  if  she  did  not  learn  this  story  and  do  as 
they  told  her  they  would  kill  her,  but  if  she 
obeyed  them  they  would  get  her  a  rich  hus- 
band as  a  reward.  The  poor,  deluded  child,  not 
knowing  what  was  in  store  for  her,  learned  her 
part  so  well,  as  did  the  others  connected  with  it, 
that  she  was  landed,  and,  as  is  usual  in  these 
cases,  was  kept  in  a  family  house  for  a  few  weeks, 
and  then  put  into  a  vile  den.  From  this  den  we 
rescued  her  a  few  weeks  later,  but  not  until  we 
had  made  five  unsuccessful  efforts. — From  a  Mis- 
sionary in  San  Francisco. 

MEMORY  TEST 

When  and  why  did  the  acquisition  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  become  important  to  our  gov- 
ernment? 

How  was  Christianity  sent  to  these  islands? 

What  is  the  history  of  mission  work  there? 

What  are  its  results  from  the  commercial 
standpoint? 

What  races  on  the  islands  are  in  special  need 
of  missionary  work? 

Describe  the  native  Hawaiians;  the  Japanese 
and  Chinese  on  the  islands. 


98  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

Where  are  the  Chinese  who  can  be  reached 
by  Home  Missionary  work? 

Describe  the  condition  of  many  Chinese 
women  and  girls  in  San  Francisco. 

How  many  women  slaves  are  there  in  that 
city? 

How  many  little  slave  girls? 

Describe  house-to-house  visiting  in  China- 
town. 

Which  is  the  more  difficult,  work  for  the  Chi- 
nese in  this  country  or  in  China? 

BIBLE   LESSON 
The  Isles  Wait  for  His  Law 

From  whence  shall  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord 
be  gathered?  (Isa.  n:  n.) 

Who  shall  join  in  the  "  new  song"?  (Isa. 
42:  10.) 

Over  whom  shall  "  the  king's  son  "  have  do- 
minion? (Psalms  72:  8,  10.) 

Why  are  the  islands  to  be  glad?     (Psalms  97: 

I.) 

W'here  shall  the  name  of  the  Lord  be  glori- 
fied? (Isa.  24:  15.) 

How  does  the  prophet  illustrate  the  power  of 
God?  (Isa.  24:  15;  41:  5.) 

What  prophecy  may  be  put  in  the  present 
tense  to-day?  (Isa.  42:  4.) 

What  encouragements  for  missionary  work 
are  given  by  the  prophet?  (Isa.  51:  5;  60:  9.) 


THE    ORIENT  9< 

What  is  the  prophecy  of  final  victory?     (Zeph. 
2:  n.) 

GOD'S  MESSENGERS 
(TUNE— Eltham.) 

Go,  ye  messengers  of  God, 

Like  the  beams  of  morning  fly! 

Take  the  wonder-working  rod, 
Wave  the  banner-cross  on  high. 

Go  to  many  a  tropic  isle 

In  the  bosom  of  the  deep, 
Where  the  skies  forever  smile, 

And  the  oppressed  forever  weep. 

O'er  the  pagan's  night  of  care 
Pour  the  living  light  of  heaven; 

Chase  away  his  dark  despair, 
Bid  him  hope  to  be  forgiven. 


VI 
"OLD    SETTLERS"  AND  NEW 

THE  INDIANS 

"f  I  iHE  Japanese,  the  Mexicans,  the  Fili- 
pinos, the  Mormons,  even,  are  com- 
"*•  parative  strangers  to  us.  But  the 
Indians — oh,  we  know  all  about  them!  They 
live  in  wigwams  or  wickiups.  We  have  seen 
them  in  would-be  savage  costume  at  the  World's 
Fairs,  '  Buffalo  Bill '  has  made  us  familiar  with 
their  war-dances — yes,  and  we  know  the  splendid 
work  done  at  Hampton  and  Carlisle.  Surely 
there  is  no  need  of  spending  time  in  the  study  of 
Indian  conditions." 

This  thought,  real  though  not  always  spoken, 
finds  quick  reply  from  the  heart  of  one  who 
really  knows  the  present-day  conditions  of  these, 
the  "  first  families  "  of  our  land.  "  The  right  of 
eminent  domain  "  is  a  pleasing  phrase — when 
applied  to  ourselves.  Said  a  little  fellow  in  an 
Indian  school,  to  his  teacher: 

"  Miss  M.,  where  you  come  from?" 

"  Oh,  I  come  from  San  Francisco,"  she  re- 
plied. 

"  No,  where  your  mother  come  from?" 
100 


"OLD    SETTLERS'  101 

Understanding  then  that  the  boy  was  ques- 
tioning of  her  ancestry,  she  said,  "  Oh,  way  back, 
we  came  from  Holland." 

"  Then  you  go  back  to  Holland,"  said  the 
lad.  "  Holland  your  country.  United  States  be- 
longs to  Indians." 

Of  unfair  and  cruel  dealings  with  the  Indians 
detailed  description  need  not  be  given  here.  The 
story  is,  alas,  sadly  familiar.  A  tardy  sense  of 
justice  and  the  purpose  to  recognise  the  man- 
hood of  the  red  man,  seem  at  last  to  have  en- 
tered into  the  dealings  of  the  government  with 
these,  its  wards.  The  gradual  abolition  of  the 
reservation  system  and  the  opening  of  schools 
are  omens  of  good.  But  in  some  of  the  locali- 
ties occupied  by  these,  our  reconcentrados,  self- 
support  is  impossible,  and  for  them  special  pro- 
vision must  be  made.  As  it  takes  time  to  ad- 
just matters  of  this  sort,  we  are  likely  to  realise 
the  needs  of  reservation  Indians  for  years  to 
come. 

All  who  are  truly  interested  in  the  welfare  of 
the  Indians  must  regret  the  opportunities  given 
them  to  preserve  and  confirm  their  savage  cus- 
toms and  habits  through  their  presentation  as  a 
part  of  a  "  show  " — whether  that  "  show  "  be  a 
low-grade  circus  or  an  exposition.  Not  so  are 
manhood  and  womanhood  developed. 

Familiar  as  we  may  be  with  the  ordinary  type 
of  Indians,  and  with  the  pressing  need  of  Chris- 
tian work  among  them,  there  are  others  less  fre- 


102          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

quently  brought  to  our  notice,  for  whom  little 
if  any  missionary  work  has  been  done.  Let  us 
note  a  few  typical  tribes. 

Along  the  southern  boundary  of  the  United 
States  live  the  Pueblo  Indians,  a  people  practi- 
cally unreached,  as  yet,  by  missionary  effort. 
Their  dwellings  are  flat-roofed  community 
houses,  the  second  story  built  over  the  rear  of 
the  first,  and  reached  only  by  ladders  up  which 
the  women  climb  with  brimming  jars  of  water — 
often  brought  from  miles  away — or  well-filled 
wheat  baskets,  on  their  heads.  A  fire-place  in 
the  middle  of  the  floor  has  a  hole  in  the  roof 
as  its  outlet  for  smoke.  This  charred  fire-place 
also  serves  for  purposes  of  ventilation,  as  the 
windows  are  designed  only  for  lighting.  To 
reach  these  interiors  one  must  mount  a  ladder 
to  the  roof  of  the  first  story,  pass  through  a 
hatchway  in  the  roof  and  down  another  ladder. 

Life  seems  little  worth  the  living  under  such 
conditions.  Yet  these  bronze  men,  with  ban- 
danas on  their  foreheads  and  moccasins  on  their 
feet,  have  wrested  success  from  even  the  bar- 
ren soil  of  the  Painted  Desert  of  Arizona,  and 
forced  corn  crops  from  what  seems  capable  of 
yielding  only  "  scorching  curses." 

In  southern  California  are  the  Mission  Indians, 
living  among  rocks  and  desert  wastes  in  place  of 
the  good  lands  they  formerly  owned,  feeding 
on  grass,  acorns  and  rats,  when  food  is  scarce. 

Look  at  the  long  line  of  vermilion-painted 


'OLD    SETTLERS5  103 

women  at  the  agency,  their  hair  awry,  their 
faces  marred  and  furrowed  with  the  traces  left 
by  savagery  and  its  inevitable  degradation  of 
womanhood.  See  the  eagerness  of  each  to  get 
a  full  supply  of  the  rations  of  raw  meat — enough 
for  the  needs  of  the  family,  enough  to  satisfy  the 
husband  who  leaves  the  drudgery  of  living  to 
his  wife,  enough  so  that  none  of  her  neighbors 
will  get  "  ahead  "  of  her.  Mother-love,  fear  of 
failure,  hunger,  rivalry,  are  in  their  faces. 

Or  go  among  the  Navajos.  They  will  not  notice 
you,  a  stranger,  nor  would  they  were  you  of  their 
own  blood.  That  would  be  contrary  to  eti- 
quette. The  prairie  dogs  will  pay  more  atten- 
tion to  your  presence,  for  their  restless  eyes  will 
spy  you  and  their  quick  retreat  into  their  holes 
will  betray  their  fear.  These  are  nomads,  wan- 
dering with  their  sheep  from  place  to  place.  Mis- 
sionary work  among  them  has  difficulties  all  its 
own. 

It  takes  time  and  patience,  devotion  and  yearn- 
ing love  that  will  not  be  baffled  or  driven  back, 
to  reach  hearts  like  these.  But  that  there  are 
warm,  true  hearts  beating  under  the  unprom- 
ising exteriors,  many  a  missionary  can  testify. 

"  The  saddest  thing  in  all  our  dealing,  as  a 
nation,  with  the  Indians,  is  the  winning  of  their 
respect,  their  confidence,  and  even  their  rever- 
ence," says  a  missionary  worker,  "  and  then 
violating  it.  The  hard  thing  in  missionary  work 
among  them  is  not  the  dealing  with  their  super- 


104          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

stition  and  ignorance,  but  the  striving  to  win 
back  that  which  they  have  lost,  to  undo  the 
influence  of  the  miserable  white  men  who  have 
betrayed  them." 

As  among  the  Alaskans,  belief  in  the  power 
of  the  "  medicine-man "  dies  hard,  and  forms 
one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  missionary 
work. 

The  Indian  theory  seems  to  be,  "  We  know 
our  fathers  were  happy,  but  we  do  not  know 
that  we  shall  be  happy  if  we  adopt  the  white 
man's  ways."  Who  can  blame  them?  Would 
we  not  say  the  same  thing  ourselves  in  their 
place  ? 

The  difficulties  surrounding  an  Indian  lad, 
returning  to  the  reservation  from  school,  are 
well-nigh  overwhelming.  He  is  considered  mean 
and  selfish  if  he  does  not  divide  the  contents  of 
his  trunk  among  his  friends,  though  this,  in  itself, 
reduces  him  almost  to  the  level  of  his  associates 
by  removing  the  possessions  that  are  identified 
with  his  habits  of  civilised  life.  His  people  ex- 
pect him  to  don  the  dress  of  the  "  braves " 
around  him,  and  to  take  up  life  where  he  dropped 
it  on  going  away.  The  gift  of  a  horse  increases 
the  temptation  of  the  old,  wild,  unhampered  ex- 
istence. 

Nor  is  it  less  difficult  for  the  girl  to  adjust  the 
two  forms  of  life.  She  goes  back  to  the  wigwam 
or  the  hut,  finding,  in  place  of  the  school-mother 
in  orderly  attire  and  with  neat  working  ways,  a 


"OLD    SETTLERS'  105 

squaw  whose  costume  and  habits  she  has  almost 
forgotten.  Her  mother's  hair  looks  as  if  it  had 
never  seen  a  comb;  she  wears  a  queer,  bag- 
shaped  sort  of  dress,  with  yards  and  yards  of 
buckskin  wrappings  like  bandages,  for  shoes 
and  leggings.  In  place  of  the  happy  social  life 
of  the  school  the  girl  is  ostracised  unless  she 
yield  to  the  petitions  of  her  friends,  and,  often, 
to  the  commands  of  her  parents,  and  takes  part 
in  the  barbaric  festivities  of  the  tribe.  All  her 
inherited  instincts,  all  her  filial  devotion,  all  her 
social  condition,  are  opposed  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  new  life  she  has  learned,  and  savagery 
gets  the  better  of  civilisation  unless  she  has 
strength  of  character,  wisdom  and  tact  beyond 
that  possessed  by  the  majority  of  even  white 
schoolgirls. 

The  school  in  daily  touch  with  the  home,  save 
in  exceptional  cases,  rather  than  a  boarding- 
school  to  which  the  children  are  sent,  and  in 
whose  atmosphere  they  can  but  become  alienated 
from  their  natural  environment — the  home 
cleared  and  cleaned,  and  gradually  changed  from 
the  adobe  hogan  or  the  crude  wickiup,  the  pueblo 
or  the  wigwam,  to  a  neat  cabin  or  frame  house 
— the  church  established  and  maintained  by  men 
and  women  who  have  learned  in  truth  of  the 
Great  Spirit — these  are  the  steps  that  will  solve 
the  Indian  problem,  and  it  rests  upon  Christian 
citizens  to  see  that  these  steps  are  taken. 


106          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 


INDIAN   LIFE  AND   CHARACTER 

The  North  American  Indian  was  the  highest 
type  of  pagan  and  uncivilised  man.  He  pos- 
sessed not  only  a  superb  physique,  but  a  remark- 
able mind. 

"  Why  do  you  not  use  all  kinds  of  roots  for 
medicines?  " 

"  Because  the  Great  Mystery  does  not  will  us 
to  find  things  too  easily,"  answered  the  Indian. 
"  There  are  many  secrets  that  the  Great  Mystery 
will  disclose  only  to  the  most  worthy." 

Very  early  the  Indian  boy  assumed  the  task  of 
preserving  and  transmitting  the  legends  of  his 
ancestors  and  his  race.  Almost  every  evening 
a  myth  or  a  true  story  of  some  deed  done  in  the 
past  was  narrated  by  one  of  the  parents  or  grand- 
parents, while  the  boy  listened  with  parted  lips 
and  glistening  eyes.  On  the  following  evening 
he  was  usually  required  to  repeat  it.  ...  As  a 
rule,  the  Indian  boy  is  a  good  listener,  and  has 
a  good  memory.  .  .  .  This  sort  of  teaching  at 
once  enlightens  the  boy's  mind  and  stimulates  his 
ambition.  "  All  the  stoicism  and  patience  of  the 
Indian  are  acquired  traits." 

I  was  made  to  respect  the  adults  and  especially 
the  aged.  I  was  not  allowed  to  join  in  their 
discussions,  nor  even  to  speak  in  their  presence 
unless  requested  to  do  so.  ...  We  were  taught 


"OLD    SETTLERS"         107 

generosity  to  the  poor  and  reverence  for  the 
"  Great  Mystery."  Religion  was  the  basis  of  all 
Indian  training. 

No  young  man  was  allowed  to  use  tobacco  in 
any  form  until  he  had  become  an  acknowledged 
warrior,  and  had  achieved  a  record. 

Grace  at  meals. — "  Great  Mystery,  do  thou 
partake  of  this  venison  and  still  be  gracious." 

Young  men  treated  to  "  spirit  water  "  were 
ordered  tied  up  and  put  into  a  lodge  by  them- 
selves to  remain  "  till  the  evil  spirit  had 
gone  away." — From  "Indian  Boyhood"  by 
Dr.  Charles  A.  Eastman,  a  full-blooded  In- 
dian. 

There  is  profound  pathos  in  the  story  told  by  a 
missionary  of  the  way  in  which  a  threatened  In- 
dian uprising  and  massacre  were  averted.  The 
little  garrison  in  the  vicinity  would  have  been 
powerless,  and  the  situation  began  to  be  serious, 
when  some  bright  official  bethought  himself  to 
take  "  Captain  John  "  to  San  Francisco  that  he 
might  see  the  sights  and,  incidentally,  realise  the 
power  of  the  white  man.  The  shrewd  old  chief 
learned  the  lesson  well.  Calling  a  council  on  his 
return,  he  said  to  the  assembled  braves,  "  White 
man  too  much.  White  man  heap  too  much. 
Alice  same  sand  by  river.  You  takee  some  way, 


108          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

FROM    THE   CENSUS  OF    IQOO. 

Indians  (total  number) 266,760 

Arizona 26,480 

Montana n,343 

South  Dakota 20,225 

Oklahoma n,945 

Washington 10,239 

Indian  Territory 52,500 

New  Mexico 13, 144 

California 15, 377 

Alaska 29,536 


HEATHENISM   AND  CHRISTIANITY 

"  We  regard  the  [native]  religion  of  the  In- 
dians as  superstitious  and  heathenish,  but  they 
are  earnest  and  sincere  in  it,  and  those  are  two 
of  the  highest  requirements  of  any  religion.  The 
Hopi  Indians,  for  instance,  spend  from  four  to 
sixteen  days  out  of  each  month  in  the  perform- 
ance of  what  they  consider  religious  duties.  .  .  . 
Even  the  dolls  used  by  their  children  are  made  a 
means  of  teaching  them  a  knowledge  of  their 
ancient  religion.  These  are  representations  of 
their  kat'chinas,  mythical,  semi-deified  persons, 
from  whom  they  are  descended,  and  who  are  able 
to  bring  them  much  evil  or  good,  and  are  there- 
fore to  be  prayed  to,  danced  before,  smoked  to 
and  generally  propitiated/' 

"  We  wish  you  could  make  us  Christians/* 
said  some  Indian  boys  to  their  teacher.  "  We 
want  to  be." 


"OLD    SETTLERS"         109 

"  Are  Indian  conversions  genuine?  "  The 
question  asked  of  a  missionary  received  prompt 
reply: 

"  If  they  were  not  they  would  not  be  con- 
versions." 

In  proof  of  the  statements  made,  she  pro- 
ceeded to  give  the  testimony  of  some  of  the  mis- 
sion converts.  Said  an  old  woman,  "  When  I 
in  that  church  house  I  feel  so  different.  I  know 
Jesus  come  in  my  heart  in  that  church  house. 
He  come  in  my  heart,  and  He  going  stay  there." 

An  Indian  girl  lay  dying.  "  I  see  man,"  she 
cried.  "  He  good  man.  He  stand  this  way " 
(raising  her  hands  to  represent  outstretched,  wel- 
coming arms).  "  He  say,  '  Come.'  I  go  now. 
Good-bye."  Who  can  doubt  that  for  her, 
though  of  "  the  least  of  these,"  a  place  was 
waiting  in  the  "  many  mansions  "? 

"  Work  with  the  Indians  is  so  pathetic,"  says 
a  missionary.  "  There  is  such  a  look  of  wonder 
and  amazement  on  their  faces  as  they  listen. 
The  stories  that  are  so  old  to  us  are  so  new  to 
them.  They  seem  to  be  saying",  '  Why  have  we 
not  heard  of  these  things  before?  ' ' 

Our  modern  civilisation  as  it  touches  primi- 
tive races  too  often  imparts  to  them  new  vices 
and  robs  them  of  savage  virtues.  Christianity 
must  be  linked  with  civilisation  to  counteract 
this  result." 


110          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

A  trader  was  closing  his  store  when  a  Chris- 
tian Indian  came,  late  Saturday  night.  (<  You 
come  to-morrow,"  said  the  store-keeper. 

"  To-morrow  is  the  Sabbath,"  was  the  reply. 
"  I  don't  buy  on  the  Sabbath." 

Another  Indian  gave  up  a  position  as  herder, 
saying  to  his  employer,  "  I'm  a  Christian.  I 
can't  hear  you  swear." 

"  Tell  your  people  by  the  great  fresh  water 
and  the  great  salt  sea,"  said  an  Indian  to  the 
missionary,  "  to  pray  for  the  little  baby  you  bap- 
tised, and  that  God  will  spare  him  and  let  him 
grow  up  to  make  a  great  talk  for  Jesus." 

Speaking  of  a  tour  he  made  to  certain  of  the 
Indian  reservations  while  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sioner, President  Roosevelt  said,  "  I  had  not 
gone  there  properly  upon  missionary  work,  in 
the  narrowest  sense  of  the  term,  but  I  got  en- 
listed in  missionary  work  rapidly,  because,  after 
all,  any  effort  to  try  to  further  the  cause  of  civic 
righteousness  is  missionary  work,  and  the  effort 
to  see  that  the  Indian  gets  a  square  deal  is,  at  any 
rate,  an  adjunct  to  missionary  work.  I  spent 
twice  the  time  I  intended  out  there,  because  I 
became  so  interested;  and  I  travelled  all  over  the 
reservations  to  see  what  was  being  done,  espe- 
cially by  the  missionaries,  because  it  needed  no 
time  at  all  to  see  that  the  great  factors  in  the  up- 
lifting of  the  Indian  were  the  men  who  were 


66  OLD    SETTLERS  "         111 

teaching  the  Indian  to  become  a  Christian  citi- 
zen." 

IN  AN  INDIAN  PUEBLO 

Imagine  a  room  twelve  by  fourteen  feet  in 
area,  with  ceiling  so  low  as  to  be  easily  touched 
by  the  hands,  black  with  smoke  and  very'  dirty. 
It  is  the  under  side  of  the  flat  roof,  which  is  made 
of  grass  and  mud  thrown  over  poles  laid  cross- 
wise and  a  foot  apart.  Dry  chips  and  dirt  are 
continually  dropping  through  the  cracks,  and  the 
ceiling  is  a  splendid  place  for  wasps'  and  spiders' 
nests,  with  an  occasional  scorpion,  centipede  or 
tarantula  to  drop  to  the  floor,  and  possibly  a 
snake  to  crawl  along  the  poles. 

Strips  of  meat  hung  for  drying  on  lines  stretch- 
ing across  the  room  are  covered  thick  with 
flies.  The  floor  serves  for  dining-table  as  well  as 
for  beds.  Water  is  brought  by  women  in  jars, 
manufactured  by  themselves,  up  the  steep  trail, 
and  up  and  down  the  ladders;  so  skilful  are  they 
that  they  can  run  with  these  jars  on  their  heads 
without  breaking  them  or  even  spilling  their 
contents.  Bread  is  baked  in  ovens  outside,  and 
these  are  the  favorite  resorts  of  the  dogs  with 
which  the  pueblo  abounds. 

Should  the  wife  or  daughter  in  such  a  dwelling 
— we  cannot  call  it  a  home — chance  to  faint,  she 
runs  great  risk  of  being  buried  alive,  for  the 
superstitious  Indians  know  no  difference  be- 


112          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

tween  death  and  unconsciousness,  and  are  so 
afraid  of  dead  bodies  that  they  get  them  out  of 
the  way  as  quickly  as  possible. 

SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLE 

Three  and  a  half  centuries  is  a  longer  lifetime 
than  the  most  sanguine  resident  of  New  York 
or  Chicago  would  prophesy  for  a  "  sky-scraper  " 
built  in  accordance  with  the  most  approved  prin- 
ciples of  modern  architecture.  But  in  Santa  Fe, 
the  capital  of  a  section  richer  in  historic  inter- 
est than  almost  any  other  in  the  United  States, 
the  tourist  is  shown  a  house  of  mud  and  adobe 
brick  that  had  been  standing  fifty  years  when 
English  colonists  settled  Jamestown! 

Back  still  for  another  hundred  years — and  for 
unknown  time  beyond — the  Pueblo  Indians 
fashioned  their  fort-like  barracks,  seeming  part 
of  the  mesas  amid  which  they  are  placed.  Traces 
of  a  still  older  civilisation,  and  that  of  a  high 
degree,  were  found  when  Cortez  ravaged  the 
country  with  fire  and  sword. 

New  Mexico  is  to-day  largely  Spanish  and 
Mexican,  though  under  the  flag  of  the  stars  and 
stripes.  It  is  also  Roman  Catholic,  in  the  main, 
its  political  center  bearing  the  name  it  received 
in  a  baptism  of  blood — Santa  Fe — Holy  Faith. 

"  For  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  church  dominated  New  Mexico, 
and  yet  when  Protestant  missionaries  entered 


"  OLD    SETTLERS  '  H3 

its  valleys  it  was  to  find  the  people  living  in 
darkness,  degradation  and  sin."  "  Does  not  the 
second  commandment  forbid  idol  worship?" 
questioned  a  missionary. 

"  Certainly,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Does  it  forbid  making  an  image  of  Christ 
and  worshipping  that?" 

"  Oh,  no ;  that  is  what  everyone  should  do," 
answered  the  devout  Catholic.  On  being  rea- 
soned with,  he  retorted: 

"  That  is  what  comes  of  reading  the  Bible. 
The  priest  has  always  said  we  should  get  into 
all  kinds  of  difficulties  if  we  read  it." 

With  the  padre  demanding  from  five  to  one 
hundred  dollars  for  tolling  the  bell  at  a  funeral, 
and  making  other  charges  for  religious  services 
in  proportion,  churchly  rites  can  have  but  slight 
effect  upon  the  morals  of  the  people. 

The  "  to-morrowness  "  of  the  Orientals,  if  we 
may  coin  a  word,  has  firm  hold  of  the  Mexican 
mind,  and  the  inertia  of  the  tropics  helps  to 
render  the  field  a  difficult  one  for  missionary 
effort. 

What  of  the  homes?  There  is  an  Eastern 
quaintness  in  much  of  the  Spanish  life  that  is 
very  pleasing,  especially  to  the  casual  observer. 
There  are  houses  of  the  well-to-do  spread  with 
carpets  and  Navajo  rugs,  gay  with  blossoming 
plants,  their  mistresses  wearing  the  graceful 
mantilla  as  only  a  Spanish  woman  can  wear  it, 
offering  coffee,  chocolate  or  wine  to  their  guests 


114          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

with  a  cordiality  all  their  own.  Surely  this  is  a 
paradise! 

Alas,  there  is  another  side!  There  are  one- 
roomed  huts  of  sticks  covered  with  mud,  with 
roofs  and  floors  of  mud,  and  these  are  typical  of 
a  large  class  of  Mexican  dwellings.  The  Spanish 
language  contains  no  equivalent  for  our  English 
word,  home.  The  occupants  of  these  houses  sit, 
eat  and  sleep  on  the  floor.  The  men  and  boys 
have  the  first  chance  at  the  meals,  the  women 
waiting  upon  them  and  taking  what  is  left.  Girls 
are  married  in  absolute  accord  with  the  will  of 
their  parents,  and  often  at  thirteen  years  of  age. 

How  can  a  mother  living  with  her  large  fam- 
ily in  such  an  adobe  hut,  teach  her  daughter  the 
lessons  that  belong  to  her  sex,  the  arts  of  home- 
making  and  home-keeping? 

The  statistics  of  illiteracy  in  this  section  are 
startling.  In  the  cities  there  are  excellent  pub- 
lic schools.  But  the  country  districts  a/e  often 
so  large  that  a  pupil  from  the  outskirts,  mount- 
ing his  burro  early  in  the  morning,  must  needs 
ride  till  mid-afternoon  before  reaching  the 
schoolhouse. 

The  native  Mexicans,  "  ignorant  as  slaves,  and 
more  courteous  than  kings,"  "  poor  as  Lazarus, 
and  more  hospitable  than  Croesus,"  are  not  the 
only  race  in  New  Mexico  needing  missionary 
help.  There  are  9000  Pueblo  Indians  there, 
peaceful,  home-loving  tillers  of  the  soil,  Catholics 
in  the  occasional  church-going  times,  but  "  good 


"  OLD    SETTLERS  '  H5 

pagans  "  otherwise.  In  New  Mexico  and  Ari- 
zona there  are  10,000  Navajos,  sullen,  nomadic, 
horse-loving  and  horse-stealing  vagrants,  "  pa- 
gans first,  last  and  all  the  time." 

From  such  diverse  elements  as  these,  poured 
into  the  crucible  of  American  life,  what  can 
come?  Little  of  good  for  the  nation  unless  fused 
by  the  white  heat  of  love  and  shaped  in  the  mould 
of  a  Christian  civilisation. 

There  is  no  essential  difference  between  the 
needs  of  the  Spanish-speaking  people  in  New 
Mexico  and  those  in  Arizona  and  California. 
Racial  characteristics  and  Romanism  produce 
similar  results  wherever  found,  and  the  same  sort 
of  help  is  needed. 

THE   PENITENTES 

"  There  are  no  real  heathen  in  this  country — 
at  least,  on  this  continent."  Though  the  remark 
is  not  an  infrequent  one,  the  speaker  shows  but 
slight  knowledge  of  conditions  under  our  flag. 
Go  through  southern  Colorado  and  New 
Mexico,  along  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  and 
back  among  the  hills — for  hills  have  marvellous 
power  in  shutting  away  civilisation  and  Chris- 
tianity. Here  are  villages  of  adobe  houses,  a 
wooden  cross  standing  in  the  centre  of  the  plazas, 
and  the  spell  of  peace  seeming  to  rest  upon 
them.  But  wait  until  the  beginning  of  Lent, 


116          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

and  then  witness  even  the  little  that  is  permitted 
to  the  sight  of  the  uninitiated.  Blanketed  forms 
creep  through  the  twilight  to  the  lonely  <morada, 
or  brotherhood  house.  It  is  cold  on  these 
heights,  but  many  of  the  participants  are  nude 
save  for  white  cotton  trousers  to  the  knees — 
and  they  drag  heavy  wooden  crosses. 

From  the  morada  the  penitents  creep  on  hands 
and  knees  to  the  crucifix  in  the  cemetery,  and 
there  scourge  themselves  with  twisted  ropes  of 
the  yucca  fibre,  or  branches  of  the  long-spined 
cactus.  The  blood  on  the  walls  around  the 
crucifix  testifies  to  the  results. 

All  night  these  torturing  marches  continue, 
and  night  after  night,  the  culmination  com- 
ing in  Holy  Week.  On  midnight  of  Thursday 
evening,  after  the  most  severe  penances  of  all, 
the  subject  for  crucifixion — a  high  honor — is 
chosen.  Friday  morning  he  is  bound  to  a  cross 
and  left  there  until  he  swoons,  or  dies. 

After  this  experience,  there  is  no  limit  to  the 
evil  a  man  may  do,  and  yet  receive  priestly  abso- 
lution. Four  years  of  it  releases  one  from  fur- 
ther penance  through  life. 

This  Brotherhood  of  Penitentes,  or  Flagellants, 
was  introduced  from  Spain.  Of  course  it  reaches 
only  the  most  ignorant  of  Mexicans,  and  it  is 
but  fair  to  say  there  is  a  movement  in  the  Catho- 
lic church  not  only  to  discountenance,  but  to 
abolish  it.  But  religious  superstition,  essential 
heathenism  like  this,  dies  hard.  And,  meanwhile, 


"OLD    SETTLERS'  117 

these  men  are  American  citizens.  Indeed,  there 
is  a  touch  of  grim  humor  in  the  fact  that  there 
are  Republican  and  Democratic  moradas. 

DANGER  POINTS 

"  Adulterated  and  unadulterated  heathenism  is 
at  our  doors,  and  about  the  cradle  of  its  infancy 
hovers  the  cloud  of  mystery  which  for  many 
gives  their  charm  to  Oriental  mission  fields." 

"  It  is  hard  for  an  American  to  realise  the 
condition  of  the  mass  of  poorer,  uneducated 
Mexicans.  They  live  an  idle,  aimless  existence 
because  they  have  nothing  to  do  with.  The 
women  cannot  sew  because  they  have  nothing 
to  sew.  They  cannot  cook  much  because  they 
have  nothing  to  cook.  Many  sit  all  day  long,  it 
may  be,  doing  nothing,  waiting  for  time  to  pass, 
helpless,  because  ignorance  is  always  helpless." 

Stripped  of  much  of  its  former  wealth,  and 
given  to  less  ostentatious  display,  the  Roman 
church  is  still  far  from  spiritualised,  and  is  the 
great  menace  to  liberty  in  Spanish  America.  As 
a  patriotic  American  it  makes  my  blood  tingle 
to  recall  that  when  the  Pan-Americanists  went, 
almost  all  of  them,  in  a  body  to  the  shrine  of 
Guadaloupe,  after  some  of  the  American  dele- 
gates with  the  rest  had  kissed  the  Archbishop's 
hand,  the  silken  folds  of  our  Stars  and  Stripes 
were  laid  upon  the  altar  of  a  shrine  which  is  a 


118          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

notorious  example  of  religious  superstition  and 
degradation. — Assembly  Herald. 

The  Mexicans  in  the  United  States  are  all 
citizens  under  our  common  flag.  To  lead  them 
into  the  privileges  of  a  heavenly  citizenship  is  the 
aim  of  the  work  of  the  church.  With  the  glow 
of  the  sunset-coast  in  our  faces,  and  a  larger  hope 
in  our  hearts  for  the  Spanish-speaking,  people, 
whose  lives  are  taking  on  a  color  and  richness 
only  known  under  Gospel  skies,  may  there  not 
come  a  more  golden  realisation  to  the  thousands 
waiting  for  the  electric  touch  of  generous  gifts 
to  Home  Missions  ? — Rev.  D.  E.  Finks. 

SCHOOL  PICTURES 

Maria,  living  back  in  the  hills  of  New  Mexico, 
thirty  miles  from  any  school,  had  to  be  sent 
home  for  lack  of  room  in  the  school  and  of  means 
for  her  support.  Sent  home  to  the  life  of  a 
poverty-stricken,  ignorant  Mexican  wife  and 
mother,  married  at  thirteen!  And  she  begged 
for  the  chance  to  go  to  school! 

Said  a  Catholic  mother,  "  Make  my  daughters 
Protestants  if  you  will,  only  take  them.  I  can 
scarcely  feed  them,  and  as  for  school  privileges 
they  have  none." 

Five  girls  from  a  tiny  ranch  away  in  the  hills, 
"  so  unused  to  strangers  that  they  hid  like  fright- 


«  OLD    SETTLERS  ' 

ened  quails,"  yet  mustered  up  courage  enough 
to  beg  to  be  allowed  to  enter  the  school. 

They  were  bright-eyed,  manly  little  fellows, 
who  had  walked  five  miles  to  school,  and  pro- 
posed to  do  so  daily  if  only  they  might  come  so 
as  to  learn  to  read,  like  a  companion  who  had 
been  in  school  the  previous  year.  How  could 
they  be  turned  away? 

"  Two  fathers,"  writes  a  missionary  teacher, 
"  begged  to  be  allowed  to  enter  the  school.  The 
other  night  I  found  one  of  our  boys  at  his  regu- 
lar task  of  helping  one  of  these  in  arithmetic,  by 
the  light  of  a  fagot  fire,  that  the  man  might  be  in 
the  boy's  class  when  I  could  admit  him." 

One  frequently  sees  the  children  on  the  way  to 
mission  school  carrying  two  or  three  sticks 
of  wood  apiece,  with  their  books.  Unable  to  pay 
money,  they  furnish  the  wood  for  their  tuition, 
their  fathers  sending  it  in  this  way  instead  of 
bringing  a  wagonload  at  a  time. 

An  old  man  present  at  the  dedication  of  a  mis- 
sion school  begged  that  one  might  be  opened  in 
his  village.  He  was  told  that  perhaps  sometime 
the  Board  would  be  able  to  do  so.  "  Sometime," 
he  replied,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  "  sometime  I  be 
dead!" 

The  old  men  and  the  young  men,  the  women 
and  the  children,  stretch  out  earnest  hands  from 
the  very  Valley  of  the  Shadow,  pleading  for 


120          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

Christian  succor  and  cheer.     Shall  we  turn  away 
with  indifference  and  pay  no  heed  to  their  cry  ? 

If  you  could  see  a  dirty,  procrastinating,  un- 
trained Mexican  boy  transformed  by  this  school 
life  into  the  tidy,  dish-washing,  bed-making,  care- 
taking,  studious,  Bible-loving,  hymn-singing, 
wide-awake  schoolboy,  you  would  know  what  it 
is  that  justifies  this  string  of  adjectives,  and  the 
money  spent  on  this  school.  And  you  would 
want  to  help  all  the  rest  of  the  poor,  school-less, 
Christless  Mexican  boys  to  find  home  care  and 
practical  Christian  training  that  shall  make  them 
citizens  worthy  of  such  a  country  as  our  own. 
Is  there  anything  more  patriotic  that  women  can 
undertake  as  a  measure  of  saving  their  country? 
— From  a  Visitor  to  a  Presbyterian  School  in 
New  Mexico. 


PORTO   RICO   AND    THE   PHILIPPINES 

Said  a  small  boy,  drawing  his  conclusion  from 
the  study  of  recent  history,  "  Seems  to  me  the 
United  States  is  getting  her  land  too  much  scat- 
tered around."  Whether  we  agree  with  the 
youngster  or  not,  the  fact  remains  that  Home 
Missions  have  expanded  with  the  expansion  of 
the  nation,  crossing  oceans  and  seas,  and  reach- 
ing halfway  around  the  world. 

That  which  may  be  said  of  Porto  Rico  applies,^ 
to  a  large  extent,  to  the  Philippine  Islands,  as 


"OLD    SETTLERS'  121 

well — only,  in  the  latter,  there  is  the  added  re- 
sponsibility of  a  native  population  differing  from 
ourselves  even  more  widely  in  race  and  concep- 
tions of  life  than  the  natives  of  the  Caribbean  isl- 
and. To  all  intents  and  purposes,  missionary 
work  among  the  Filipinos  is  foreign  work,  in 
spite  of  the  protection  of  our  flag. 

In  both  Porto  Rico  and  the  far  Eastern  isl- 
ands, the  Roman  Catholic  church  had  her  op- 
portunity, and  lost  it.  In  four  hundred  years  of 
possession  Spain  did  not  erect  a  single  school- 
house  in  Porto  Rico.  That  fact  alone  is  an  in- 
dex to  the  needs  and  conditions  of  the  island 
to-day.  When  it  came  into  the  possession  of  the 
United  States,  but  ten  out  of  one  hundred  of  its 
people  could  read  and  but  six  out  of  one  hundred 
could  write.  The  Spanish-American  War,  fol- 
lowed by  the  study  of  conditions  in  Cuba  and 
Porto  Rico,  has  forever  disposed  of  the  flimsy 
argument,  "  Better  leave  people  alone.  They're 
not  responsible  if  they  don't  hear  the  Gospel — 
and  are  as  well  off." 

About  one-third  of  the  inhabitants  of  Porto 
Rico  are  young  people  between  the  ages  of  five 
and  sixteen.  Two-thirds  of  the  native  popula- 
tion are  women.  In  the  United  States,  exclusive 
of  its  colonial  possessions,  there  are  twenty  in- 
habitants to  the  square  mile.  In  the  Philippine 
Islands,  sixty.  In  Porto  Rico,  two  hundred  and 
seventy! 

Porto  Rico  is  a  land  of  perpetual  sunshine — 


122          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

of  bananas,  beans  and  black  coffee  as  the  staple 
food  of  its  people — of  shacks  built  on  stilts,  with 
stables  beneath,  as  the  dwellings  of  its  country 
folk — of  poverty  in  the  extreme,  where  work 
is  considered  a  disgrace  and  self-indulgence  is 
the  order  of  the  day. 

The  village  and  city  homes  of  the  poorer 
classes  are  little  better  than  the  country  shacks. 
"  The  women,"  says  a  missionary  worker  there, 
"  may  be  divided  into  upstairs  and  downstairs 
women.  The  better  class  live  on  the  second 
floor,  and  the  visitor  stumbles  over  washing  tubs 
and  charcoal  braziers  in  the  halls.  A  necklace 
is  the  '  dressed-up  '  costume  of  the  downstairs 
child." 

Poverty  presses  to  an  extent  of  which  we  can 
have  little  idea.  It  is  not  at  all  unusual  to  keep 
children  at  home  from  school  for  the  lack  of  food 
to  satisfy  their  hunger.  A  missionary  on  the 
island  gives  the  following  vivid  picture  of  her 
work: 

"  Miss  and  I  go  into  dens  every  day 

where  the  sunlight  has  never  entered,  neither 
broom  nor  water.  Whole  families  live  in  these 
dark  rooms.  At  night  they  shut  the  door — there 
are  no  windows.  The  patio  is  surrounded  by 
small  rooms,  all  opening  into  it.  Crowds  of 
people  live  in  each  patio  t  and  there  are  tubs 
everywhere,  and  screaming,  smoking  women, 
naked  children,  and  loafing  men.  It  strongly 
reminds  me  of  pictures  of  the  Inferno.  There  is 


"OLD    SETTLERS'  123 

one  cistern,  which  all  use.  The  waste  water  is 
thrown  on  the  pavement,  and  it  is  wet  and  sloppy 
everywhere,  and  smells!  I'm  learning  to  hold 
my  breath  instead  of  breathing  deeply.  I  try 
to  see  how  little  I  can  breathe  and  still  get  along. 
The  people  follow  us  around  the  patio,  and  carry 
chairs  for  us.  A  family  is  lucky  if  it  has  one 
chair. 

"  Our  waiter  is  really  very  funny,  and  amuses 
us  very  much.  One  day  as  he  was  starting  for 
the  kitchen  with  a  tray  of  tottering  dishes  he 
remarked — in  Spanish,  of  course — '  Well,  I  don't 
know  whether  I  will  get  there  or  not,  but,  after 
all,  God  is  great  and  over  all.'  He  got  there." 

There  is  pitiful  need  of  hospitals  for  the  poor 
and  of  training  in  the  simplest  matters  of  sani- 
tation. The  missionary  physician  finds  treat- 
ment rendered  vastly  more  difficult  than  at  home 
by  reason  of  the  native  prejudice  against  fresh 
air  and  baths.  While  the  windows  may  be 
opened,  possibly,  during  his  visit,  he  is  morally 
certain  they  will  be  shut  as  soon  as  he  leaves, 
especially  if  it  is  a  case  of  fever! 

But  more  than  anything  else,  Porto  Rico  and 
the  Philippines  need  to-day  the  gospel  of  clean, 
pure  lives.  The  exorbitant  charges  of  the  priests 
have  placed  even  the  ordinary  ceremonies  of 
civilisation  beyond  the  reach  of  the  majority  of 
the  people.  Marriage  costs  from  $25  to  $250. 
One-tenth  of  a  man's  income  is  claimed  by  the 
priest,  and  masses  and  other  churchly  functions 


124          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

are  equally  high-priced.  The  more  intelligent 
of  the  people  have  lost  faith  in  Catholicism.  It 
remains  for  us  to  teach  them  faith  in  Chris- 
tianity. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  Protestant  work  meets 
opposition.  A  small  girl  who  had  attended  a 
mission  sewing-school  sent  word  she  could  not 
come  any  more  because  they  did  not  believe  in 
God  at  the  school,  and  there  would  be  no  salva- 
tion for  her.  The  child,  of  course,  but  echoed 
the  words  of  the  priest. 

"  It  seems  to  me  all  great  men  are  Ameri- 
cans," said  a  Porto  Rican  lad.  Unfortunately 
for  the  life  that  we  wish  to  see  develop  in  the 
beautiful  "  Gem  of  the  Antilles,"  the  boy's  state- 
ment will  not  bear  reversal.  Not  all  the  Ameri- 
cans he  sees  are  "  great  men,"  nor  even  good 
men.  As  is  always  the  case,  there  is  a  large 
element  among  the  new-comers  that  is  not  rep- 
resentative of  the  best  types  of  the  American 
nation.  The  work  of  Christ  must  be  strength- 
ened and  enlarged  with  special  reference  to 
Americans  on  the  island — for  to  them  the  Porto 
Ricans  look  as  examples.  When,  too,  there  is 
sufficient  missionary  work  for  the  people  with 
whom  we  have  thus  far  been  brought  into  inti- 
mate contact  in  the  Philippines,  we  shall  but 
have  touched  the  outer  fringe  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  archipelago.  As  Christians,  do  we  be- 
lieve that  the  soul  of  a  Mohammedan  devotee 
in  Sulu  or  Mindanao  is  worth  as  much  as  our 


"OLD    SETTLERS'  125 

own?  "  Beginning  at  Jerusalem,"  where  are 
the  outer  borders  of  our  commission  from  the 
blessed  Christ? 


PORTO  RICAN   PICTURES 

Said  a  Porto  Rican  mother,  "  I  believe  much 
in  God.  I  like  very  much  this  religion.  My 
two  daughters  and  all  my  family  wish  to  enter 
with  me  into  the  church.  But  I  must  be  married 
first.  I  have  lived  twenty-two  years  with  the 
father  of  my  children.  I  am  ashamed  to  tell  the 
pastor.  I  want  you  to  tell  him.  Do  you  think 
when  I  am  married  God  will  pardon  my  sins?" 

"  A  pretty  young  girl  of  seventeen,"  says  the 
principal  of  a  Porto  Rican  school,  "  walks 
twenty  miles  to  and  from  the  school  daily,  sleeps 
on  a  bare  floor,  and  is  so  poor  that  she  must  beg 
nearly  all  her  food." 

"  I  see  very  clearly,"  said  an  intelligent  Catho- 
lic, "  that  you  Protestants  are  friends  of  educa- 
tion, and  your  chief  weapon  is  the  enlightenment 
of  the  people.  Why,  your  very  churches  are 
schools  for  your  congregations !  "  This  is  the 
thing  that  strikes  these  people  most  forcibly, 
the  fact  that  all  lines  of  Protestant  missionary 
work  are  in  their  very  nature  educational. 

"  There  is  among  the  Porto  Ricans  an  idea 
that  air  in  a  sickroom  is  certain  death,  and  as  we 


126          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

visit  our  sick,  we  are  almost  prostrated  as  we 
enter  the  apartment  that  has  been  scrupulously 
closed  to  all  light  and  air.  Native  physicians 
tell  their  patients  that  they  will  not  treat  their 
cases  unless  the  rooms  are  thus  kept  closed — and 
that  in  a  climate  where  it  is  perpetual  summer. 
So  also  as  to  the  use  of  water.  It  is  feared  by 
many  as  death  itself.  The  filthy  practices  that 
are  in  vogue  among  the  people  in  cases  of  sick- 
ness, due  to  superstition  or  ignorance,  defy  all 
credence.  The  only  possible  way  to  combat 
these  things  is  through  a  medical  missionary 
who  shall  be  a  teacher  and  a  preacher  of  good 
sense  and  sound  Gospel." 

A  boy  in  a  Porto  Rican  school  who  modestly 
admitted  he  could  speak  some  English,  said, 
"  I  am  learning  many  things  in  this  school.  I 
like  best  the  story  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was 
a  poor  boy  like  me  and  lived  in  a  log  cabin  as 
poor  as  mine.  But  he  was  honest  and  earnest 
and  became  the  saviour  of  his  country.  I  mean 
to  work  so  hard  that  I  may  become  of  use  to  my 
country." — The  Congregationalist. 

Profoundly  pathetic  is  the  story  that  comes  to 
us  from  the  Spanish-American  mission  field  of  a 
little  boy  who  so  loved  and  revered  his  teachers 
that  he  sought  to  conceal  from  them  his  place  of 
abode,  deeming  it  unfit  for  such  superior  beings 
to  enter!  Think  what  innate  cleanness  and 


"  OLD    SETTLERS  "         127 

longing  for  higher  things  this  suggests.  Truly 
we  know  not  what  we  do  when  we  carry  light 
and  help  to  these  "  little  ones,"  of  whom  our 
Lord  declared,  "  Of  such  is  the  kingdom." — 
Woman's  Home  Missions. 

The  poor  people  of  Porto  Rico  are  making 
unusual  sacrifices  to  educate  their  children.  No 
compulsory  law  is  necessary.  Attendance  is 
higher  in  percentage  than  in  any  State  of  the 
Union  except  Massachusetts,  which  State  ex- 
ceeds Porto  Rico  only  by  one  per  cent.  Hundreds 
of  children  carry  their  shoes  and  stockings  to  and 
from  school  in  their  arms.  It  is  a  common 
experience  to  see  the  pupils  at  dismissal  leave  the 
school,  sit  down  by  the  roadside,  remove  shoes 
and  stockings  and  climb  rugged  and  jagged 
mountain  trails  barefooted  to  save  the  shoes  and 
thus  prolong  their  use.  I  know  women  who  sit 
on  the  river  rocks  all  day  and  every  day  wash- 
ing clothes  to  keep  their  children  in  school. 

In  the  mountain  district  above  Corozal  a  boy 
was  found  in  school  wearing  a  peculiar  shirt — 
at  least  four  times  his  size.  Upon  inquiry  it 
was  learned  that  the  boy  had  only  one  shirt  and 
that  one  was  being  washed.  That  the  boy 
might  not  miss  a  day  in  school  his  father  gave 
the  son  his  only  shirt.  The  father  that  day, 
naked  to  the  waist,  carried  a  case  of  mer- 
chandise on  his  head  over  the  mountains,  under 
the  palms,  in  a  fierce  tropic  sun,  a  distance  of 


128          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

twenty  miles  and  return,  that  his  son  might 
learn.  And  the  father's  shirt  on  his  son's  back 
bore  the  legend  "  Pillsbury's  XXX  "  ! 

At  Juncos  I  saw  a  boy  in  school  who  was  un- 
usually self-conscious  and  who,  in  moving  about 
from  class  to  seat,  never  turned  his  back  to  me. 
Inquiry  of  the  teacher  told  the  story.  The  boy 
was  finally  to  pass  to  another  room,  and  my 
teacher-friend's  explanation  led  me  to  watch. 
As  the  boy  passed  out  I  saw  that  all  the  shirt  he 
had  in  this  world  was  on  the  front  of  his  body! 
Hiding  the  shame  of  his  poverty,  there  he  was  in 
school,  dressed  only  in  a  pair  of  tattered  trou- 
sers and  half  a  shirt.  He  was  to  me  a  genuine 
little  patriot,  pressing  his  face  to  the  light  and 
pushing  his  half-naked  body  forward  in  the 
movement  for  the  uplifting  of  himself  and  his 
beautiful  island  home. — The  Congregationalist. 

MEMORY  TEST 

Why  is  missionary  work  necessary  among  the 
Indians  ? 

Describe  the  Pueblo  Indians  and  their  homes; 
the  Mission  Indians. 

•  Describe  Indian  women  as  seen  at  a  distribution 
of  rations. 

What  is  the  greatest  hindrance  to  missionary 
work  among  the  Indians  ? 

Why  should  there  be  good  schools  on  the  reser- 
vations ? 


"OLD    SETTLERS'  129 

What  lessons  are  taught  the  Indian  boy  ? 
What  is  said  about  the  native  religion  of  the 
Indians  ? 

Do  they  become  genuine  Christians  ? 

Where  is  the  oldest  house  in  our  country,  and 
when  was  it  built? 

Of  what  older  civilisation  have  records  been 
found  ? 

What  are  the  results  of  Roman  Catholicism  in 
New  Mexico? 

Describe  the  homes  of  native  Mexicans  in 
this  country. 

Describe  the  rites  of  the  Penitentes. 

Give  school  pictures  of  the  Spanish-speaking 
people. 

What  added  responsibility  comes  to  our  coun- 
try with  the  acquisition  of  Porto  Rico  and  the 
Philippines  ? 

In  what  condition  was  education  in  Porto  Rico 
under  the  Spaniards? 

Describe  the  homes  of  the  poorer  classes  in 
Porto  Rico. 

What  lessons  of  purity  are  needed  in  Porto 
Rico,  and  why  ? 

Tell  about  children  in  Porto  Rican  schools. 


130          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

BIBLE  LESSON 
"  Beginning  at  Jerusalem  " 

Study  Home  Mission  work  for  foreigners,  as 
described  in  the  book  of  Acts.     Note 

The  nationalities  reached  on  the  Day  of  Pente- 
cost.    Acts  2 19- 1 1. 
The  act  of  an  immigrant  convert.      Acts  4: 

36-37. 
A    foreigner    made    steward    in    the    church. 

Acts  6 : 5. 
The  relation  of  foreigners  to  the  first  Christian 

martyr.     Acts  6 :  9. 
Paul's  sermons  in  the  presence  of  the  Roman 

guard.     Acts  21 :  37-40;  22;  23 ;  i-io. 

THY  KINGDOM  COME 

(TUNE— Missionary  Chant.) 

Lord,  when  we  pray,  "  Thy  kingdom  come," 
Then  fold  our  hands  without  a  care 

For  souls  whom  Jesus  died  to  save, 
We  do  but  mock  Thee  with  our  prayer. 

Thou  couldst  have  sent  an  angel  band 
To  call  Thy  straying  children  home, 

And  thus,  through  heavenly  ministries, 
On  earth  Thy  kingdom  might  have  come. 

But  since  to  human  hands  like  ours 

Thou  hast  intrusted  work  divine, 
Oh,  let  our  eager  hearts  make  haste 

To  join  their  feeble  powers  with  Thine; 


«  OLD    SETTLERS"         131 

To  sow  the  seed  in  every  soil; 

To  bring  the  word  of  life  to  men; 
To  give  as  Thou  to  us  hast  given, 

Hoping  for  no  reward  again. 

All  this  to  do,  while  in  our  thought 
No  pride  or  vain  self -trust  finds  room, 

This  is  to  pray,  with  honest  heart 
And  purpose  true,  "  Thy  kingdom  come." 

—HELEN  G.  RICE. 


VII 

MORMONISM   AND   THE   MORMONS 

THE  limitations  of  space  forbid  anything 
more  than  a  brief  outline  of  the  inception 
of  Mormonism  and  the  character  of  its 
founder.     A  Mormon  poet  (?)  says : 

"  Vermont,  a  land  much  famed  for  hills  and  snows 
And  blooming  cheeks,  may  boast  the  honor  of 
The  Prophet's  birthplace." 

The  "  honor  "  seems  somewhat  doubtful,  since 
the  best  that  his  Mormon  biographer  can  say 
of  Joseph  Smith  is  that  "  he  could  read  with- 
out difficulty  and  write  a  very  imperfect  hand, 
and  had  a  very  limited  understanding  of  the  ele- 
mentary rules  of  arithmetic.  These  were  his 
highest  and  only  attainments,  while  the  rest  of 
those  branches  so  universally  taught  in  the  com- 
mon schools  through  the  United  States  were  en- 
tirely unknown  to  him."  His  father  was  accus- 
tomed to  boast  of  Joseph  as  the  "  genus  "  of  the 
family. 

Moving  to  western  New  York  while  Joseph 

was  quite  young,  the  family  led  a  curious,  vaga- 

bondish  existence,  the  use  of  divining  rods  and 

the   digging  for  supposed  treasures  being  the 

132 


M  O  R  M  O  N  I  S  M  133 

favorite  occupations  of  father  and  son.  The 
mother  should  not  be  overlooked  in  .any  study 
of  Mormonism,  for  it  is  evident  that  she  aided 
and  urged  this  son — apparently  her  favorite — to 
such  an  extent  that  she  has  claim  to  be  consid- 
ered the  real  founder  of  the  infamous  system 
whose  basis  is  the  degradation  of  womanhood. 
From  the  evil  she  wrought  for  the  women  of 
Mormonism,  the  hands  of  Christian  women  must 
rescue  them. 

Mormonism  began  with  the  alleged  finding 
of  mysterious  golden  plates,  the  discovery  being 
accompanied  by  "  revelations."  The  whole  story 
hinges  upon  the  testimony  of  Joseph  Smith, 
whose  word  was  less  than  worthless  among  his 
neighbors  of  the  respectable  sort.  The  "  revela- 
tions "  became  of  marked  value  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  system.  When  the  first  "  transla- 
tion "  of  the  plates  was  stolen,  and  Smith  did  not 
dare  to  attempt  a  duplicate  lest,  unfortunately, 
there  be  comparison  with  the  original,  it  was 
"  revealed  "  to  him  that  he  should  take  another 
portion,  "  a  more  particular  account,"  from  the 
"  plates  of  Nephi,"  as  that  first  used  had  been 
"  altered  through  the  agency  of  Satan." 

The  crude,  incoherent,  complex  result  which 
was  destined  to  form  the  Book  of  Mormon — the 
Mormon  Bible — went  begging  for  a  publisher, 
in  spite  of  Smith's  assurance  that  this  one,  or 
that,  would  undertake  it.  But  a  "  revelation  " 
accounted  for  the  non-fulfilment  of  those  previ- 


134          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

ously  received  by  saying,  "  Some  revelations  are 
of  God,  some  are  of  man,  and  some  are  of  the 
devil  " — a  statement  we  may  all  be  willing  to  ac- 
cept. Alas!  no  rule  was  given  by  which  either 
could  be  identified.  For  this  we  must  go  to  an 
older  authority,  and  read,  "  By  their  fruits  ye 
shall  know  them." 

Certain  it  is  that  Mormons  were  left  no  choice 
concerning  such  "  revelations  "  as  those  ordering 
that  a  house  should  be  built  for  Smith,  or  declar- 
ing the  "  will  of  the  Lord  "  in  regard  to  elections. 
On  September  n,  1831,  Smith  announced  that 
it  had  been  "  revealed  "  to  him  that  the  Mor- 
mons were  "  the  Lord's  agents,  and  as  such  had 
the  right  to  take  what  they  chose  and  pay  as  they 
chose."  There  were  sixteen  "  revelations "  in 
1829,  thirty-five  in  1831,  and  so  on,  with  vary- 
ing numbers,  until  in  1845  there  were  but  two — 
but  these  proclaimed  the  doctrine  of  polygamy. 
In  his  last  days  Smith  was  allowed  to  issue 
"  revelations  "  only  after  they  had  been  censored 
by  the  Church  Council.  They  had  become  too 
convenient  even  for  Mormons. 

Smith  made  careful  provision  for  his  father 
by  constituting  him  a  Patriarch,  a  position  that 
enabled  him  to  sell  his  "  blessings  "  at  what  we 
may  suppose  to  have  been  a  good  profit.  In 
1875  these  were  openly  advertised  at  $2  apiece. 
Whether  there  were  wholesale  rates,  or  bargain 
days,  does  not  appear. 

The  followers  of  Joseph  Smith  claim  to  hold 


MORMON  ISM  135 

the  Bible  in  equal  honor  with  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon. But  their  editions  of  the  sacred  volume 
contain  curious  interpolations  and  changes.  As 
a  single  illustration,  take  the  addition  made  to 
the  fiftieth  chapter  of  Genesis: 

"  That  seer  will  I  bless,  and  they  that  seek  to 
destroy  him  shall  be  confounded,  ...  for  his 
name  shall  be  called  Joseph,  and  he  shall  have 
judgment  and  shall  write  the  word  of  the 
Lord/' 

More  than  three  thousand  changes  have  been 
made  in  the  Book  of  Mormon  since  it  was  first 
issued — changes  in  grammar,  chronology,  geog- 
raphy and  Bible  history.  The  words  "  Carefully 
revised  by  translator,"  on  the  title-page  of  an 
edition,  are  suggestive,  to  say  the  least. 

"  How  can  honest  people,  earnest  people,  peo- 
ple who  have  professed  to  be  followers  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  accept  such  doctrines,  be  the 
victims  of  such  barefaced  imposture?"  The 
question  is  a  natural  one,  and  yet  we  may  not 
mock  at  the  credulity  of  the  Mormons  when  we 
remember,  for  instance,  the  annual  "  cures  "  at 
the  shrine  of  a  Roman  Catholic  saint  in  New 
York  City.  Human  nature  is  a  singular  com- 
pound, and  most  of  us  are  very  human,  when  all 
is  said  and  done.  "  Let  him  that  thinketh  he 
standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall." 

Three  things  constitute  the  power  of  Mor- 
monism:  the  iron  hand  of  the  church,  the  steady 
and  continuous  extension  of  the  system  into  con- 


136          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

tiguous  States,  and  its  proselyting  in  other  sec- 
tions of  this  country  and  in  other  lands. 

One  chief  element  in  the  almost  perfect  con- 
trol that  the  church  has  over  its  members  lies  in 
its  equally  complete  control  of  the  means,  and 
even  of  the  necessities,  of  life.  Utah  is  in  the  arid 
section  of  the  continent,  and  agriculture  is  pos- 
sible only  through  an  elaborate  'System  of  irri- 
gation— controlled  by  the  church.  Co-operative 
stores,  managed  by  the  church,  must  be  patron- 
ised by  the  Mormons  under  dire  penalties.  An 
apostate  Mormon  finds  himself  under  the  ban  of 
a  boycott  more  severe  than  trades  unions  have 
ever  conceived.  Said  Brigham  Young,  as  offi- 
cially quoted  in  the  Journal  of  Discourses,  Vol. 
IV,  p.  31 : 

"  The  moment  a  person  decides  to  leave 
this  people,  he  is  cut  off  from  every  object  that  is 
desirable  for  time  and  eternity.  Every  posses- 
sion and  object  of  affection  will  be  taken  from 
those  who  forsake  the  truth,  and  their  identity 
and  existence  will  eventually  cease." 

Tithing  is  a  continuous  test  of  loyalty,  and 
is  carried  out  to  a  minute  degree.  One-tenth 
of  the  original  value  of  property  is  paid  in  tithes, 
to  begin  with.  One-tenth  of  all  its  increase 
must  follow,  at  stated  intervals,  and  for  every 
nine  days'  work  there  must  be  one  day's  service 
for  the  church,  the  requirement  extending  even 
to  beasts  of  labor.  (See  statement  by  Brigham 
Young,  in  address  in  Salt  Lake  City,  Sept.  8, 


M  O  R  M  O  N  I  S  M  137 

1850.      Reported   in   The  Millennial  Star,  Vol. 

XIII,  p.  21.) 

In  1878  the  tithes  of  the  Mormon  church 
amounted  to  $1,000,000  a  year.  The  total  tithes 
during  the  administration  of  Brigham  Young 
were  $15,000,000.  No  report  is  required  of  the 
vast  sum  thus  raised.  The  people  are  told  that 
the  payment  is  essential  "  to  secure  a  future  resi- 
dence in  the  heaven  they  are  seeking  after."  It 
must  seem  a  literal  "  laying  up  treasures  in 
heaven  "  to  those  who  believe  implicitly  in  the 
word  of  the  priesthood. 

Religious  statistics  have  not  yet  been  collated 
from  the  returns  of  the  last  census.  The  census 
of  1890  gave  the  Mormon  population  of  Utah  as 
118,201.  (Estimated  number  of  adherents  in  all 
countries,  300,000.)  The  following  figures,  also 
from  the  census  of  1890,  indicate  the  workings  of 
the  policy  of  expansion,  one  of  the  chief  elements 
in  Mormon  strategy: 

Mormons  All  Churches 

New  Mexico 456  105,749 

Idaho 14,972  24,036 

Arizona 6,500  26,972 

Nevada 525  5,877 

Wyoming 1,336  ",705 

Colorado 1,762  86,837 

No  more  impressive  statement  of  the  peril  to 
the  government  of  the  United  States  from  the  ex- 
tension of  Mormonism  can  be  given.  It  is  first, 


138          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

last,  and  always,  for  its  church.  Its  political  af- 
filiations swing  from  party  to  party  at  the  man- 
date of  the  church.  For  years  it  has  been 
stealthily  working  to  secure  the  balance  of  power 
in  other  States.  It  "  has  ever  in  view  objects 
rather  than  methods."  Brigham  Young's  con- 
tinuous cry  was  to  be  let  alone. 

"  In  a  few  years,"  said  an  official  orator  in  a 
Fourth  of  July  address,  "  there  will  be  no  United 
States  government,  for  the  Mormon  church  will 
be  the  head  of  the  nation."  Feb.  15,  1844,  the 
Times  and  Seasons  announced  Joseph  Smith  as  its 
Presidential  candidate,  and  kept  his  name  thus 
before  the  people  until  his  death.  The  example 
was  followed  by  The  Neighbor,  another  Mormon 
paper.  When  next  the  Mormon  hierarchy 
names  its  candidate  for  this  high  office,  he  will 
have  the  backing,  unless  present  conditions  are 
changed,  of  at  least  five  States.  "  Mormon  am- 
bition," says  an  apostate  Mormon,  a  grandson  of 
Brigham  Young,  "  is  broad  as  the  world  and 
deep  as  simple  faith.  It  seeks  only  its  own  ends, 
defying  human  judgment  and  claiming  authority 
from  God." 

Mormonism  makes  practically  no  proselytes 
among  its  Gentile  neighbors.  Its  progress  is 
the  result  of  its  persistent  missionary  work.  In 
1901  officers  of  the  Mormon  church  claimed  that 
from  1400  to  1900  emissaries  of  the  "  Church  of 
the  Latter-Day  Saints  "  were  in  the  field.  The 
East  is  permeated  with  their  influence.  They 


MORMONISM  139 

enter  a  Christian  church  in  Harlem  (N.  Y.),  and 
their  specious  arguments  capture  members  and 
officers  of  its  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  who 
forthwith  emigrate  to  Utah ;  they  call  from  house 
to  house  in  Pennsylvania,  and  even  the  descend- 
ants of  Scotch  Covenanters  are  not  proof  against 
their  wiles ;  they  penetrate  the  coves  of  the  Blue 
Ridge  and  the  Alleghanies,  seeming  angels  of 
light  to  the  secluded  inhabitants.  They  take 
service  in  families,  the  better  to  carry  forward 
their  work.  A  Mormon  butler  actually  induced 
sixty  servant  girls  to  go  to  Utah  by  the  promise 
of  husbands  and  homes. 

The  English  manufacturing  towns  are  a  prom- 
ising field.  The  people  are  ignorant,  supersti- 
tious and  poor,  and  the  offer  of  a  building  lot, 
or  a  farm,  is  very  attractive.  In  the  six  years 
beginning  with  1840,  3750  Mormon  immigrants 
came  from  Great  Britain  alone.  No  law  can 
prevent  this  unless  the  incomers  admit  that  they 
are  polygamists — and  that  contingency,  of  course, 
is  carefully  guarded  against.  In  fact,  the  doc- 
trine of  polygamy  is  usually  kept  in  the  back- 
ground, if  not  denied,  until  the  new  convert 
reaches  Utah.  "  When  we  dare,"  said  an 
apostle,  speaking  of  missionary  work  in  Japan, 
"  we  preach  the  doctrine  of  plural  marriage." 

A  slight  possibility  of  relief  in  this  direction 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  supply  of  government  land 
in  Utah  is  now  exhausted,  and  this  constitutes  a 
strong  reason  for  colonisation  elsewhere.  The 


HO          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

fact  that  such  extension  has  already  begun  in 
Mexico  can  but  rouse  sympathy  and  anxiety  for 
our  sister  republic. 

Of  the  blasphemy  of  Mormonism  and  the  un- 
speakable horrors  of  the  doctrine  of  polygamy, 
the  direct  and  cruel  enemy  of  the  home,  the  words 
of  Mormons  themselves  are  the  best  evidence. 
Instead  of  enlarging  upon  these  here,  liberal 
quotations  concerning  them  are  given  at  the  end 
of  the  chapter. 

"No  woman,"  says  a  Mormon  document,  "can 
be  perfect  without  a  man  to  lead  her.  ...  A  man 
cannot  be  saved  without  a  woman  at  his  side." 
The  principal  doctrines  of  the  Mormon  church 
are  more  or  less  directly  connected  with  this  state- 
ment. Polygamy  is  based  on  the  theory  that  the 
more  wives  (and  children)  acquired  here,  the 
more  honor  and  power  will  a  man  have  in  the 
next  world.  "  What  do  you  find  in  the  Book  of 
Mormon  more  than  you  can  get  in  the  Bible  ?  " 
The  question  was  addressed  to  a  prominent 
Mormon,  and  his  reply,  unconsciously,  perhaps, 
gave  the  keynote  of  the  whole  system. 

"  Oh,  the  kingdom  that  is  promised  to  every 
man." 

But  no  "  kingdom "  is  promised  to  woman. 
For  her  there  is  simply  the  negative  assurance 
that  only  if  "  married  "  here  and  "  sealed  "  to 
some  man  for  the  hereafter,  can  she  be  saved.  A 
man  may  have  "  sealed  "  to  him  women  whom  he 
can  never  know,  as  Queen  Victoria,  for  instance, 


MORMONISM  Hi 

was  made  the  prospective  partner  of  many  a 
Mormon  in  the  other  world.  "  All  over  Mor- 
mondom  are  pious  old  widows,  or  wives  of  Gen- 
tile apostates,  who  hope  to  rise  in  the  last  day  and 
claim  a  celestial  share  in  Brigham  Young." 

Baptism  for  the  dead  is  also  a  taking  doctrine. 
Families  may  be  thus  baptised  by  the  wholesale, 
ensuring  for  those  in  whose  name  the  rite  is  ob- 
served all  the  privileges  of  Paradise — and  inci- 
dentally, as  is  always  the  case  in  ceremonies  of 
the  Mormon  church,  paying  well  for  the  privi- 
lege. 

With  Mormons  occupying  the  places  of  judge, 
and  advocate  and  jurors,  there  is  slight  hope  of 
conviction  in  any  accusation  of  polygamy  against 
a  Mormon.  The  only  chance  for  the  civil  re- 
demption of  the  womanhood  of  Utah — and  its 
manhood,  as  well — lies  in  a  constitutional  amend- 
ment making  plural  marriage  a  crime  against 
national  law,  and  thus  giving  Federal  courts 
jurisdiction  even  within  the  State  of  Utah. 
Against  such  an  amendment  all  the  power  of  the 
Mormon  hierarchy,  and  all  the  influence  it  can 
bring  to  bear — political,  mercantile,  and  railroad 
— will  be  exerted,  as  it  means  the  death-blow  to 
the  distinctive  doctrine  of  the  Mormon  religion. 
The  language  of  Governor  Wells,  in  vetoing  an 
act  of  the  Utah  legislature,  March  14, 1901,  shows 
the  chief  dread  of  Mormonism :  "  I  have  every 
reason  to  believe  this  enactment  would  be  the 
signal  for  a  general  demand  upon  the  National 


142          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

Congress  for  a  constitutional  amendment  directed 
solely  against  certain  conditions  here — a  demand 
which,  under  the  circumstances,  would  assuredly 
be  complied  with." 

"  Did  not  Utah  promise,  when  admitted  to 
Statehood,  to  do  away  with  polygamy  ?  " 

Certainly.  The  constitution  of  the  State, 
adopted  in  May,  1895,  says,  "  Polygamy  or  plural 
marriages  are  forever  prohibited."  In  1890,  the 
president  of  the  church  issued  a  proclamation 
(not  a  "  revelation  ")  which  struck  out  polygamy 
as  a  necessary  belief  and  practice.  This  was 
justified  to  Mormons  as  called  forth  by  the 
"  perseverance  of  their  enemies,"  and  to  this  state- 
ment was  added,  "  That  which  is  not  fulfilled  will 
be."  A  Mormon  elder  says,  "  The  polygamists 
who  have  become  so  since  the  law  forbade  it  are 
as  truly  heroes  as  was  Washington.  We  honor 
them  and  will  stand  by  them.  Persecution  only 
shows  their  worthiness." 

The  author  of  "  The  Story  of  the  Mormons," 
an  invaluable  book  on  this  subject,  writes: 

"  Only  the  certainty  of  continued  exclusion 
from  the  rights  of  citizenship,  and  the  hopeless- 
ness of  securing  the  long-desired  prize  of  State- 
hood for  Utah,  finally  induced  the  church  to  bow 
to  the  inevitable  and  to  announce  a  form  of  re- 
lease for  its  members  from  the  duty  of  marrying 
more  wives  than  one.  .  .  .  The  doctrine  is  simply 
held  in  abeyance.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
it  is  a  part  of  the  doctrine  of  polygamy  that  one 


MORMON  ISM  143 

can  enter  heaven  only  if  '  sealed '  to  some  devout 
member  of  the  church,  '  for  time  and  eternity/ 
and  that  the  space  around  the  earth  is  filled  with 
spirits  seeking  '  tabernacles  of  clay '  by  means  of 
which  they  may  obtain  salvation." 

A  constitutional  amendment  giving  power  to 
Federal  officers  to  enforce  the  law  against  polyg- 
amy whenever  public  sentiment  is  so  perverted 
that  local  officers  are  powerless,  is  necessary  for 
the  safety  of  the  nation.  But  only  the  gospel 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  can  rescue  souls  en- 
snared in  the  Satanic  net  of  Mormonism. 


MORMON  STATEMENTS 

A  lie  is  righteous  when  it  can  serve  the  church. 
— Brigham  Young. 

Girls,  do  not  forget  polygamy.  You  cannot 
practice  it  now,  but  keep  it  alive  in  your  hearts, 
and  remember  there  are  four  girls  to  every  boy  in 
Utah. — Editorial  Statement  in  the  Organ  of  the 
Young  Women  of  Utah. 

Adam  is  our  God,  and  the  only  God  with  whom 
we  have  to  do.  When  he  came  into  the  Garden 
of  Eden,  he  came  into  it  with  a  celestial  body,  and 
brought  Eve,  one  of  his  wives,  with  him. — From 
an  Address  by  Brigham  Young,  in  the  Tab- 
ernacle, Salt  Lake  City,  1852.  Published  in  the 
Journal  of  Discourses. 


144          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

We  did  not  reveal  celestial  marriage.  We  can- 
not withdraw  or  renounce  it.  God  revealed  it 
and  He  has  promised  to  maintain  it  and  to  bless 
those  who  obey  it.  If  any  man  or  woman  expects 
to  enter  into  the  celestial  kingdom  of  our  God 
without  making  sacrifices  and  without  being 
tempted  to  the  very  uttermost,  they  have  not  un- 
derstood the  Gospel.  .  .  . 

Who  would  suppose  that  Congress  would 
enact  a  law  which  would  present  the  alternative 
to  religious  believers  of  being  consigned  to  the 
penitentiary  if  they  should  attempt  to  obey  the 
law  of  God  which  should  deliver  them  from  dam- 
nation?— An  Epistle  from  the  First  Presidency 
to  the  Officers  and  Members  of  the  Church,  Oct. 
6,  1885. 

Whether  the  doctrine  of  the  plurality  of  wives 
is  true  or  false  is  none  of  their  business.  We 
have  as  good  a  right  to  adopt  tenets  in  our 
religion  as  the  Church  of  England,  or  the  Metho- 
dists, or  the  Baptists,  or  any  other  denomina- 
tion.— Brigham  Young,  as  quoted  in  Journal  of 
Discourses,  Vol.  II,  pp.  187-188. 

I  believe  that  they  will  not  under  our  present 
form  of  government  (I  mean  the  government  of 
the  United  States)  try  us  for  treason  if  believing 
and  practising  our  religious  notions  and  ideas.  I 
think,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  that  the  Constitution 
gives  the  privilege  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  this 


MORMONISM  145 

country  of  the  free  exercise  of  their  religious 
notions,  and  the  freedom  of  their  faith  for  the 
practice  of  it.  But  if  it  can  be  proved  to  a  dem- 
onstration that  the  Latter-Day  Saints  have 
actually  embraced  as  a  part  and  portion  of  their 
religion  the  doctrine  of  the  plurality  of  wives,  it 
is  constitutional.  And  should  there  ever  be  laws 
enacted  by*  this  government  to  restrict  them  from 
the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  such  laws  must 
be  unconstitutional. — Orson  Pratt,  in  an  Address 
at  a  Church  Conference,  Aug.  28,  1852.  See 
Deseret  News,  extra,  Sept.  14,  1852. 

In  the  spiritual  world  we  will  go  to  Brother 
Joseph,  and  he  will  say  to  us,  "  Come  along,  my 
boys.  We  will  get  you  a  good  suit  of  clothes. 
Where  are  your  wives?" 

''  They  are  back  yonder.  They  would  not  fol- 
low us." 

"  Never  mind,"  says  Joseph.  "  Here  are  thou- 
sands; have  all  you  want." — H.  C.  Kimball,  in  an 
Address  in  the  Tabernacle,  Salt  Lake  City,  Feb. 
/,  i#57.  Journal  of  Discourses,  Vol.  IV,  p.  209. 

No  man  in  Utah  who  already  has  a  wife  and 
who  may  desire  to  obtain  another,  has  any  right 
to  make  any  proposal  of  marriage  to  a  lady  until 
he  has  consulted  the  president  of  the  whole 
church  and  through  him  obtained  a  revelation 
from  God  as  to  whether  it  would  be  pleasing  in 
His  sight.— The  Seer,  Vol.  I,  p.  jr. 


146          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

As  a  people  we  view  every  revelation  from  God 
as  sacred.  Polygamy  was  none  of  our  seeking. 
It  came  to  us  from  heaven,  and  we  recognised  it, 
and  still  do,  as  the  voice  of  Him  whose  right  it 
is  not  only  to  teach  us,  but  to  dictate  and  teach 
all  men. — Deseret  News,  1865. 

Seem  always  to  obtain  information  from  your 
husbands,  especially  before  company,  though  you 
may  pose  as  a  simpleton.  Never  forget  that  the 
wife  owes  all  her  importance  to  her  husband. — 
From  Maxims  for  Mormon  Wives,  in  Deseret 
News. 

The  nature  of  the  message  in  the  Book  of 
Mormon  is  such  that  if  true  none  can  be  saved 
who  rejects  it,  and  if  false  none  can  be  saved  who 
receives  it. — Orson  Pratt. 

Every  spirit  that  confesses  that  Joseph  Smith 
is  a  prophet,  that  he  lived  and  died  a  prophet,  and 
that  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  true,  is  of  God ;  and 
every  spirit  that  does  not,  is  of  anti-Christ. — 
Brigham  Young,  in  an  Address  at  Nauvoo,  Oct., 
1844. 

A  man  marrying  many  wives  "  cannot  commit 
adultery,  for  they  are  given  unto  him;  for  he 
cannot  commit  adultery  with  that  which  belongeth 
unto  him  and  to  no  one  else." — Book  of  Doctrines 
and  Covenants,  Sec.  132. 


MORMONISM  Wf 

The  Mormons  claim  that  "  in  conceding  the 
cognisance  of  the  marriage  relation  as  within 
the  province  of  church  regulation,"  they  are 
"  practically  in  accord  with  all  other  Christian 
denominations." 

In  a  "  revelation,"  Joseph  Smith  declared  that 
marriages  "  not  by  me  nor  by  my  word,"  were 
invalid  in  the  other  world,  and  the  parties  thereto 
could  not  be  "  gods  "  there  by  reason  of  their  vio- 
lation of  law  here,  but  "  must  remain  separately 
and  singly,  without  exaltation,"  being  "  minister- 
ing servants  to  minister  for  those  who  are  worthy 
of  a  far  more  and  an  exceeding  and  an  eternal 
weight  of  glory." — Book  of  Doctrines  and  Cov- 
enants, Sec.  132. — A  "  Revelation  "  given  July 
12,  1843. 

Concerning  the  "  revelation  "  of  the  "  duty  " 
of  plural  marriage,  an  English  paper  (The  Mil- 
lennial Star,  Liverpool,  January,  1853)  said  that 
no  "  other  revelation  "  had  ever  had  the  power 
so  "to  shake  to  its  centre  the  very  social  structure 
which  has  been  reared  and  vainly  nurtured  by 
this  professedly  Christian  generation;  none  more 
conclusively  exhibits  how  surely  the  end  must 
come  to  all  works,  institutions,  ordinances  and 
covenants  of  man;  none  more  portrays  the 
eternity  of  God's  purpose ;  and  we  may  say  none 
has  carried  so  mighty  an  influence,  or  had  the 
power  to  stamp  the  divinity  upon  the  mind  by 


148          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

absorbing  every  feeling  of  the  soul,  to  the  extent 
of  this." 


"  Mr.  Young,  may  I  say  to  the  President  that 
you  intend  to  observe  the  laws  under  the  Con- 
stitution ?  " 

"  Well,  yes,  we  intend  to." 

"  But  may  I  say  to  him  that  you  will  do  so  ?  " 

"  Yes,  yes,  so  far  as  the  laws  are  just,  cer- 
tainly."— From  an  Interview  between  Senator 
Trumbull  and  Brigham  Young,  in  July,  1889. 
Reported  in  Alt  a  California. 

"  Do  you  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  had  wives, 
and  where  do  you  get  your  authority  for  so  be- 
lieving." 

"  I  can  answer  that  question  only  by  asking 
another.  When  a  man  is  sick,  who  is  the  natural 
one  to  take  care  of  him?  " 

"  His  mother,  sister,  or  wife,  if  he  has  one." 

"  Who  were  first  at  the  sepulchre  to  care  for 
the  body  of  Jesus?" 

"  Mary  Magdalene  and  the  other  Mary." 

"  Were  these  Marys  his  mother  ?  " 

"  No." 

"His  sisters?" 

"No." 

"  Then  they  must  have  been  his  wives." — 
Report  of  a  Conversation  with  a  Mormon  Mis- 
sionary. 


MORMONISM  H9 

A  gentleman  living  in  Utah  writes:  "Yesterday 
a  Mormon  young  woman  told  me  that  her  father 
paid  every  tenth  load  of  hay  for  tithing  when  he 
brought  it  from  the  field.  During  the  winter 
when  he  sold  the  remaining  hay  he  also  gave 
every  tenth  dollar.  Also  with  his  cattle  he  gives 
one-tenth  of  what  he  has,  and  the  next  year  he 
tithes  the  same  stock  over  again,  giving  one- 
tenth  of  all,  thus  including  the  cattle  from  which 
he  has  paid  for  many  years,  plus  the  increase. 
This  man  is  in  moderate  circumstances,  yet  he 
pays  $500  a  year  tithing.  He  asked  the  officials 
if,  having  once  tithed  his  hay  and  stock,  he  must 
again  tithe  them  when  they  were  sold  by  giving 
one-tenth  of  the  amount  realised,  and  was  told 
that  he  must  do  so.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  this 
organisation  is  so  abundantly  provided  with  the 
'  sinews  of  war  '  ?  " 

An  old  man,  leaving  his  home  and  family  at  the 
command  of  the  church  authorities — possibly 
because  he  was  suspected  of  disaffection — re- 
joiced in  the  opportunity  to  go  to  Denmark  on 
a  mission,  expressing  himself  as  "  lucky  to  have 
the  chance  to  travel." 

The  priesthood  takes  advantage  of  the  desire 
for  travel  and  adventure  in  the  hearts  of  the 
young,  and  sends  out  its  young  men  as  mis- 
sionaries. Said  a  high-school  graduate,  "  I'll 
not  begin  my  study  of  law  for  three  years,  but 
dad  is  going  to  make  use  of  me  meanwhile.  I 


150          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

am  going  on  a  mission  to  Holland.  I  don't  know 
how  much  preaching  I'll  do,  but  I'll  see  Germany 
and  have  a  good  time.  Us  Mormon  kids  get  a 
good  chance  to  see  the  world!  "  (For  illustration 
of  Mormon  missionary  work,  read  "  By  Order  of 
the  Prophet.") 

Three  hundred  American  Mormons  are  re- 
ported as  attending  the  dedication  of  a  Mormon 
temple  in  Copenhagen.  The  Book  of  Mormon 
has  been  translated  into  fourteen  different  lan- 
guages, including  German,  French,  Danish, 
Italian,  Dutch,  Welsh,  Swedish,  Spanish, 
Hawaiian,  Hindostanee,  Maori,  Samoan  and 
Tahitian. 

Said  a  Mormon  wife,  speaking  of  polygamy, 
"  Oh,  it  is  hard,  very  hard.  But  no  matter,  we 
must  bear  it.  It  is  a  correct  principle,  and  there 
is  no  salvation  without  it." 

Said  another,  "  While  it  would  break  my  heart 
to  have  my  husband  take  another  wife,  yet  if  the 
laws  allowed  him  to  I  would  have  to  yield,  for  it 
is  a  sacred  command,  and  my  welfare  in  the  next 
world  depends  upon  it." 

The  following  statement  by  a  Mormon  woman 
illustrates  one  phase  of  polygamy :  "  We  had  one 
wife,  but  it  was  so  hard,  both  for  my  husband  and 
myself,  that  we  could  not  endure  it  and  she  left 
us  at  the  end  of  seven  months.  She  had  been 


M  OR  MONISM  151 

with  us  as  a  servant  girl  several  months,  and  was 
a  good  girl.  But  as  soon  as  she  was  made  a  wife 
she  became  insolent,  and  told  me  she  had  as  good 
a  right  to  the  house  and  things  as  I  had,  and 
you  know  that  didn't  suit  me  very  well.  But  I 
wish  we  had  kept  her  and  I  had  borne  everything, 
for  we  have  got  to  have  one,  and  don't  you  think 
it  would  be  pleasanter  to  have  one  you  had  known 
than  a  stranger  ?  " 

Joseph  Smith's  wife  seems  to  have  been  some- 
what rebellious,  for  in  the  "  revelation "  com- 
manding plural  marriage,  "  Mine  handmaid, 
Emma  Smith,"  is  carefully  commanded  "  to  abide 
and  cleave  unto  my  servant  Joseph,  and  to  no  one 
else."  Evidently  the  rule  of  plurality  was  not 
meant  to  work  both  ways. 

Two  sisters  of  a  man's  first  wife  became  his 
fifth  and  sixth  wives,  and  the  mother  of  these 
was  the  seventh,  "  for  the  salvation  of  her 
eternal  state."  This  man  had  nineteen  wives  in 
all,  and  sixty-four  children! 


IN  A  MORMON  SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

"  The  teacher  announced  that  the  lesson  for 
the  day  was  the  Passover.  A  little  boy  was  asked 
to  tell  the  story  of  the  Passover  in  Egypt,  and  he 
did  it  in  a  creditable  manner.  Then  the  teacher 


152          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

gave  a  half-hour's  discourse,  beginning  with  the 
Feast  of  the  Passover,  at  which  time  Christ  in- 
stituted the  Lord's  Supper  and  foretold  His  own 
suffering  and  death.  In  speaking  of  the  resur- 
rection of  Jesus,  the  teacher  laid  special  stress 
upon  the  fact  that  the  Lord  was  not  buried  under 
the  ground,  but  in  a  sepulchre  with  only  a  stone 
rolled  against  the  opening,  and  that  otherwise  He 
could  not  have  come  forth  from  the  grave  when 
He  came  back  to  life.  Then  several  stories  were 
told  of  people  who  were  buried  alive,  but  could 
not  get  out  of  their  coffins  because  they  were  un- 
der the  ground.  The  class  was  told  that  Jesus 
appeared  to  a  great  number  of  people  before  His 
ascension,  and  also  that  He  appeared  to  the 
Nephites  right  here  in  the  United  States. 

"  After  telling  this  long  story,  the  allotted  time 
for  the  study  of  the  lesson  not  having  yet  ex- 
pired, the  remainder  of  the  time  was  taken  up 
by  telling  fairy  stories  and  singing  songs.  As  it 
was  Thanksgiving  season  they  sang  such  selec- 
tions as  '  Father,  We  Thank  Thee  '  and  '  Carloads 
of  Pumpkins/ 

"  The  boys  and  girls  who  were  eight  years  of 
age  were  urged  to  be  baptised  into  the  kingdom. 
The  boys  were  told  to  be  good  little  Latter-Day 
Saints,  so  they  might  some  day  be  sent  out  on  a 
mission. 

"  As  a  reward  for  good  behavior  the  children 
were  promised  a  nice  dance  sometime  next  month. 
It  was  said  that  such  a  good  spirit  was  mani- 


MORMONISM  153 

fest  in  the  last  dance  they  had,  that  it  was  thought 
wise  to  have  another  one  soon." 


MORMONISM  IN  HYMNS 

I'll  be  a  little  Mormon  and  seek  to  know  the  ways 
That  God  has  blest  His  people  in  these  the  latter  days  J 
I  know  that  He  has  blest  me  with  mercies  rich  and 

kind, 
And  I  will  strive  to  serve  Him  with  all  my  might  and 

mind. 

By  sacred  revelation,  which  He  to  us  has  given, 
He  tells  us  how  to  follow  the  ancient  saints  to  heaven-, 
Though  1  am  young  and  little,  I  too  may  learn  forth- 
with 
To  love  the  precious  Gospel  revealed  to  Joseph  Smith. 

With  Jesus  for  the  standard,  a  pure  and  perfect  guide, 
And  Joseph's  wise  example,  what  can  I  need  beside? 
I'll  strive  from  every  evil  to  keep  my  heart  and  tongue, 
I'll  be  a  little  Mormon  and  follow  Brigham  Young! 


Go,  welcome  his  people,  let  nothing  preclude  you, 
Come  Joseph  and  Simeon,  and  Reuben  and  Judah, 
Come  Naphtali,  Issachar,  Levi  and  Dan, 
Gad,  Zebulon,  Assher,  and  come,  Benjamin. 


Sound,  oh,  sound  the  trump  of  fame, 

Let  Jesus  with  the  Mormon  name 

Ring  through  the  world  with  loud  applause, 

The  Bible  shall  defend  our  cause. 


154  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 


It  matters  not  when  or  whither 
You  go,  neither  whom  among, 

Only  so  that  you  closely  follow 
Your  leader,  Brigham  Young. 

The  blessings  of  heaven  attend  you, 

Both  in  time  and  eternity, 
If  you  strictly  attend  to  the  counsel 

Of  Brigham  and  Heber  C. 

In  sunshine,  in  storms  and  in  tempests, 
In  all  changes,  console  yourselves 

That  your  sharers  in  sorrow  and  joy  are 
Brigham,  Heber,  and  all  the  Twelve. 


THE  ETERNAL  FATHER  AND  MOTHER 

I  had  learned  to  call  Thee  Father, 
Through  Thy  Spirit  from  on  high, 

But  until  the  Key  of  Knowledge 
Was  restored,  I  knew  not  why. 

In  the  heavens  are  parents  single? 

No,  the  thought  makes  reason  stare. 
Truth  is  reason ;  truth  eternal 

Tells  me  I've  a  mother  there. 

When  I  leave  this  frail  existence, 

When  I  lay  this  mortal  by, 
Father,  Mother,  may  I  meet  you 

In  your  royal  court  on  high? 

Then  at  length  when  I've  completed 

All  you  send  me  here  to  do. 
With  your  mutual  approbation 

Let  me  come  and  dwell  with  you. 


MORMONISM  155 

WORDS  OF  WARNING 

The  strength,  the  perpetuity  and  the  destiny 
of  the  nation  rest  upon  our  homes  established 
by  the  law  of  God,  guarded  by  parental  authority, 
and  sanctified  by  parental  love.  These  are  not 
the  homes  of  polygamy. — President  Cleveland,  in 
First  Annual  Message. 

Think  of  its  evil  origin  of  deceit;  its  history 
of  crime;  its  covert  practice  of  polygamy  every- 
where where  Mormons  are  found,  more  pro- 
nounced now  than  ever  before;  its  doctrine  of 
blood  atonement  which  has  never  been  repudiated 
and  which  can  be  enforced  when  considered 
politic;  its  debasing  conception  of  a  polygamous 
God  and  Saviour — the  Holy  Spirit  a  kind  of 
mesmeric  fluid  imparted  by  the  laying  on  of 
hands;  its  lying  practices  and  unequalled  pro- 
fanity; its  school  of  deception  where  the  mis- 
sionaries are  trained  before  going  out  to  preach ; 
and  its  treasonable  faith.  Loyal  to  the  United 
States!  Not  in  the  faintest  mental  conception. 
Their  political  designs,  which  they  are  quietly 
but  surely  carrying  out,  are  stupendous.  When 
one  thinks  of  it  all,  and  of  the  apathy  of  the 
people  while  this  Satanic  faith  is  spreading  all 
around  the  world,  it  is  hard  to  remain  calm. — 
Mrs.  Darwin  S.  lames,  President  Presbyterian 
Woman's  Board  of  Missions. 


156          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

Northern  Mexico  contains  six  flourishing 
Mormon  colonies,  in  all  of  which  polygamy  is 
practised  without  let  or  hindrance,  and  in  all  of 
which  the  population  is  increasing  with  great 
rapidity. 

These  Mormon  communities  will  become  in 
no  real  sense  Mexican,  but  remain  outlying  parts 
of  the  great  Mormon  imperium  in  imperio  which 
is  building  up  in  our  own  domain.  They  keep  the 
institution  of  polygamy  more  than  doctrinally 
alive.  Their  people  come  and  go  between  the 
Mexican  colonies  and  Arizona  and  Utah.  The 
temples  wherein  their  polygamous  elders  are 
"  sealed  "  to  plural  wives  stand  on  United  States 
territory.  The  Mormons  have  annexed  Mexico 
for  the  purposes  of  polygamy. 

In  addition  to  these,  they  have  recently  pur- 
chased a  sort  of  peninsula  which  projects  into 
the  United  States,  being  bounded  west  by  Ari- 
zona and  east  by  Texas.  All  the  men  whose 
names  have  appeared  in  connection  with  the  pur- 
chase are  Mormons  of  Utah,  and  there  is  more 
than  a  suspicion  that  it  is  an  important  step  in 
connection  with  a  new  and  greater  movement  of 
Mormons  from  the  United  States  upon  a  large 
tract  of  land  in  Mexico,  contiguous  to  the  United 
States,  which  they  can  develop  according  to  their 
well-known  thrifty  methods,  and  call  their  own. 

But  if  they  are  the  purchasers  of  this  land,  they 
are  not  purchasing  it  to  provide  for  a  Mormon 
exodus.  They  are  not  going  to  abandon  the 


MORMONISM  157 

parent  hive  at  all — they  are  simply  going  to  send 
out  a  big  swarm  from  it.  The  Mormons  have 
been  making  many  proselytes  lately,  both  in  the 
East  and  in  Europe.  They  must  have  thousands 
of  colonists  ready  for  location  somewhere.  There 
can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  they  look  forward 
to  the  day  when  northern  Mexico,  as  well  as 
the  mountain  region  of  our  West,  will  be  pre- 
dominantly Mormon.  When  that  day  comes  the 
agriculture  of  Arizona  will  be  almost  wholly  in 
Mormon  hands.  A  more  or  less  compact  Mor- 
mon community  will  exist  over  a  country  extend- 
ing from  the  middle  of  Montana  on  the  north  to 
the  Mexican  State  of  Durango  on  the  south,  a 
distance  of  fifteen  hundred  miles,  and  from  the 
Rockies  on  the  east  to  the  Sierras  on  the  west. 
Their  "  State  of  Deseret  "  is,  at  least  in  their  own 
imaginations,  greatly  extending  its  borders. — 
New  York  Times,  1903. 

Travellers,  excursionists  and  business  ex- 
ploiters are  easily  blinded  to  the  real  character 
of  Mormonism.  On  the  trains,  in  hotels,  and  in 
business  places,  Mormons  are  not  easily  distin- 
guished from  Gentiles.  It  is  therefore  necessary 
to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  dis- 
tinction between  Christianity  and  Mormonism. 

In  some  respects  Mormonism  resembles  Mo- 
hammedanism. Each  has  a  false  prophet  and  a 
false  Bible.  Each  has  a  polygamous  priesthood, 
and  claims  a  monopoly  of  saving  power.  Each 


158  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

holds  to  the  Christian  revelation  and  superadds 
a  pretended  revelation.  There  are  many  things 
that  distinguish  Mormonism  from  Christianity. 
Mormonism  insists  on  faith  in  Joseph  Smith  as  a 
divine  prophet,  in  the  Book  of  Mormon  as  a 
divine  revelation,  and  in  the  authority  of  the 
Mormon  priesthood.  Faith  in  all  this  is  abso- 
lutely essential  to  salvation.  It  teaches  that  God 
was  only  a  man,  still  going  on  to  perfection,  that 
Adam  was  God,  and  the  natural  father  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  that  there  are  multitudes  of  Gods,  and 
that  God  is  a  polygamist,  and  that  Jesus  Christ 
was  a  polygamist.  It  debases  woman  to  the  Turk- 
ish level,  gives  her  no  chance  for  the  future  unless 
she  is  married  naturally  or  spiritually  to  some 
man,  and  says  her  greatest  work  is  to  furnish 
bodies  for  the  vast  multitude  of  souls  hovering 
about  the  earth  waiting  and  watching  for  bodies 
in  which  to  be  born. 

The  Christian  church  has  as  definite  a  mission 
in  Utah  as  in  any  heathen  land. — fiishop  Charles 
H.  Fowler,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

MEMORY   TEST 

Who  was  Joseph  Smith? 
Give  the  history  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 
Name  some  of  the   "  revelations  "   issued  by 
Smith. 

Do  the  Mormons  believe  in  the  Bible  ? 

What  three  factors  give  Mormonism  its  power  ? 


M  O  R  M  O  N  I  S  M  159 

Describe  the  tithing  system  as  practised  by 
these  people. 

Why  is  Mormonism  a  danger  to  our  govern- 
ment? 

Where  are  Mormon  missionaries  at  work,  and 
with  what  results? 

Give  Mormon  statements  concerning  polyg- 
amy. 

What  is  baptism  for  the  dead? 

Why  is  it  difficult  to  convict  a  polygamist  in 
Utah? 

Was  the  promise  of  Utah  to  do  away  with 
polygamy  made  in  good  faith  ? 

What  must  be  done  to  make  it  possible  for  the 
Federal  Government  to  reach  and  punish  polyga- 
mists  ? 

What  is  the  effect  of  Mormonism  upon 
women  ? 

Describe  a  Mormon  Sunday-school. 

How  are  the  Mormons  extending  their  bor- 
ders? 

BIBLE  LESSON 
Christ's  Law  of  the  Home 

The  type  of  paternal  love — Luke  15  :n,  20-25. 
Childhood  the  type  of  Himself — Luke  9  47-48. 
The  law  of  family  love — Matt.  5  121-25. 
The  law  of  marriage — Matt.  5  13 1-32. 
The  law  of  filial  obligation — Mark  7:9-13. 
The  law  of  hospitality — Luke  9:1-5;  10:5-6. 


160          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

The  law  of  the  guest — Luke  10  7-9. 
The  law  of  conscience — Luke  8:19-21. 
The  supreme  law  of  God — Matt.  10:37. 

See  "  Jesus  and  the  Family  "  in  "  The  Prhv 
ciples  of  Jesus  "  (Robert  E.  Speer). 

THE  TEST  OF  LOVE 
(TUNE— Ortonville.) 

O  Lord  and  Master  of  us  all, 

Whate'er  Thy  name  or  sign, 
We  own  Thy  sway,  we  hear  Thy  call, 

We  test  our  lives  by  Thine. 

To  Thee  our  full  humanity, 

Its  joys  and  pains  belong; 
The  wrong  of  man  to  man  on  Thee 

Inflicts  a  deeper  wrong. 

Who  hates,  hates  Thee,  who  loves  becomes 

Therein  to  Thee  allied; 
All  sweet  accords  of  hearts  and  homes 

In  Thee  are  multiplied. 

We  faintly  hear,  we  dimly  see, 

In  differing  phrase  we  pray; 
But  dim  or  clear,  we  own  in  Thee 

The  Light,  the  Truth,  the  Way! 

— J.  G.  WHITTIER. 


VIII 
WHERE    EXTREMES    MEET 

SAID  a  bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  early  days  of  organised  Home 
Missionary  effort  by  its  women,  "  You  have 
two  fields  before  you — the  frontiers  and  the  cities. 
The  latter  is  the  largest  and  most  important,  and 
will  eventually  claim  the  largest  share  of  the  at- 
tention of  your  society.     But  you  cannot  touch 
cities   with   systematic   effort  until  you  have   a 
strong  organisation.     You  must  begin  with  the 
frontiers." 

The  prophecy  has  found  abundant  fulfilment. 
More  and  more  are  missionary  workers  in  the 
home  field  learning  that  cities  are  strategic  points, 
politically,  morally,  socially,  and  spiritually.  In 
them  "  the  rich  and  the  poor  meet  together," 
and  the  problem  of  the  Church  of  Christ  is  to 
bring  about  the  state  of  society  and  civic  condi- 
tions that  can  result  only  from  full  realisation 
that  "  the  Lord  is  the  maker  of  them  all." 

The  needs  of  our  cities — what  are  they  ?    God's 
blessed   air   and   light   in  place  of   dark,   damp 
tenement-houses,  breeders  of  malaria  and  foster- 
ers of  crime;  room  for  the  joyous,  glad  childhood 
161 


162  UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

to  which  every  boy  and  girl  is  entitled — room  for 
play  which  shall  mean  contact  with  "  mother 
earth,"  in  place  of  the  debasing  influence  of  the 
sidewalk  and  street;  room  for  mental  growth 
rather  than  the  dwarfing  slavery  of  factory,  shop, 
and  store — room  for  spiritual  growth  through 
a  wise  Christianity  that  believes  in  "  downtown 
churches."  Answers  like  these  come  instinctively 
to  our  lips  as  the  question  is  asked.  Second 
thought  goes  deeper. 

Civic  corruption  seems  to  dominate  city  life, 
scarcely  a  community  of  any  considerable  size 
being  free  from  its  taint.  Foreigners,  bring- 
ing with  them  the  low  ideals,  the  degenerate  tend- 
encies of  the  Old  World,  herd  in  our  cities — no 
other  word  describes  it — and  are  unreached  by 
American  civilisation  and  Christian  sympathy 
and  uplifting.  Homelessness  is  on  the  increase, 
since  those  who  can  afford  to  do  so  are  more  and 
more  taking  residence  in  the  suburbs.  Clubs  are 
no  more  homes  than. are  tenement-houses.  This 
exodus  leaves  the  city  in  the  control,  so  far  as 
government 'is  concerned,  of  the  less  responsible 
and  less  fitted  for  such  a  burden.  Churches  are 
gradually  moved  farther  and  farther  away  from 
the  centres  of  population,  missions,  in  some  cases, 
taking  their  places — the  very  name  often  repelling 
those  for  whom  they  are  established.  Well  does 
Dr.  Josiah  Strong  say,  "  Ignorance,  vice,  and 
wretchedness,  combined,  constitute  social  dyna- 
mite, of  which  the  city  slum  is  the  magazine, 


WHERE    EXTREMES    MEET    163 

awaiting  only  a  casual  spark  to  burst  into  terrific 
destruction." 

Especially  must  the  menace  of  the  liquor  traffic 
be  considered  in  any  discussion  of  city  conditions. 
More  arrogant,  more  powerful,  more  treacherous, 
if  possible,  than  anywhere  else  in  the  land,  it 
often  holds  municipal  government,  education,  life 
and  health,  in  its  deadly  grasp,  and  is  amenable 
neither  to  law  nor  Gospel.  To  quote  again  from 
Dr.  Strong,  in  "  The  Twentieth  Century  City  "  : 

"  A  New  York  brewer  said,  '  The  church  peo- 
ple can  drive  us  when  they  try,  and  we  know  it. 
Our  hope  is  in  working  after  they  are  tired,  and 
continuing  to  work  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
days  in  the  year.'  Who  does  not  exclaim  with 
Dr.  Parkhurst,  '  Oh,  what  a  world  this  would 
soon  be  if  the  perseverance  of  the  saints  were 
made  of  as  enduring  stuff  as  the  perseverance  of 
the  sinners ! '  " 

Organised  missionary  work  in  our  home  cities 
has  two  notable  centres,  around  which,  in  the 
main,  its  efforts  are  concentrated — children  and 
foreigners. 

As  pointed  out  by  Miss  Jane  Addams,  of  Hull 
House,  in  "  Democracy  and  Social  Ethics,"  chil- 
dren are  children,  whether  clad  in  velvet  or  rags. 
The  freebooters  in  embryo,  who  steal  lead  pipe 
from  untenanted  houses,  buy  beer  with  the  pro- 
ceeds and  dare  each  other  to  face  the  policeman, 
are  but  the  counterparts  of  country  boys  with 


164          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

their  rods  and  guns,  and  their  inherent  love  of  ad- 
venture. It  is  startling  to  charitable  instincts,  to 
be  sure,  to  have  a  family  spend  for  photographs 
money  given  for  the  purchase  of  coal;  but  have 
they  not  a  right  to  family  love  and  pride  as  well 
as  we?  In  other  words,  the  absence  of  true 
homes,  and  the  suppression  of  family  life  and  the 
natural  characteristics  of  childhood,  are  impor- 
tant factors  in  making  the  city  what  it  is  to-day. 

The  normal  child  is  a  creature  of  perpetual 
motion.  The  child  of  the  city  finds  his  chief  op- 
portunity in  the  street,  and  from  the  stolen  ride 
on  the  back  of  a  trolley  car  or  the  unwarranted 
picking  up  of  wood  from  places  where  building 
is  going  on,  it  is  an  easy  transition  to  the  theft  of 
apples  from  a  push-cart,  and  then  to  larger  steal- 
ings. In  the  school,  or  factory,  or  store,  there  is 
constant  repression — and  that,  without  safe  re- 
laxation to  follow,  is  perilous  education.  Bless- 
ings on  the  vacant  lots,  in  which  childhood  may 
romp  and  "  perform "  to  its  heart's  content. 
They  have  saved  more  lives  to  manhood  and  wo- 
manhood than  can  be  computed  in  the  arithmetic 
of  earth. 

While  the  plan  of  this  book  calls  for  the  study 
of  conditions  rather  than  of  causes,  it  will  not 
be  out  of  harmony  to  refer  to  one  special  factor  in 
the  city  child's  concept  of  authority,  municipal, 
State,  and  national.  The  "  city  fathers  "  must  be 
recognised  in  considering  the  conditions  of  our 
great  cities.  Whether  standing,  personally,  for 


WHERE    EXTREMES    MEET    165 

clean  or  dirty  politics,  whether  honestly  elected, 
or  chosen  through  franchises  bought  and  sold 
like  merchandise  over  the  counter,  there  are  cer- 
tain things  an  alderman  representing  a  city's 
slum  must  be,  if  he  stand  at  all.  These  are  sum- 
marised by  Miss  Addams  in  the  book  mentioned 
above,  somewhat  after  this  fashion : 

He  must  not  be  too  good — that  is,  his  standard 
must  not  be  above  that  of  his  constituents.  In 
practice,  this  often  means  that  he  must  help  a 
constituent  out  of  trouble  without  engaging  in 
curious  investigation  as  to  whether  or  not  the  man 
deserves  to  be  in  trouble — else  what  is  the  value 
of  a  "  pull "  ?  He  is  expected  to  override  the 
civil  service  and  all  other  laws,  if  necessary,  for 
the  protection  of  the  people  of  his  ward.  It  is  the 
old  patriarchal  system — a  blind  groping  that  aims 
at  the  extension  of  the  family  type  into  public  life. 

His  gambling  place  may  run,  his  saloon  may 
be  kept  open  long  after  legal  hours  of  closing, 
but  police  headquarters  would  be  sadly  embar- 
rassed if  either,  by  some  unfortunate  mistake, 
should  be  raided.  He  must  pay  rent  for  unfortu- 
nate constituents  and  find  jobs  and  secure  fat 
places  in  city  departments  for  those  who  have 
voted  for  him.  An  alderman  in  a  certain  city 
boasted  that  he  had  2600  men  from  his  ward  on 
the  public  payroll.  This  was  one-third  of  the 
entire  vote  of  the  ward — one  chance  in  three  for 
the  men  who  voted  for  him  to  get  work — or,  what 
was  more  to  the  point,  to  get  pay. 


166          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

Companies  seeking  city  franchises  find  it  con- 
venient to  heed  the  applicants  for  positions  who 
are  sent  by  aldermen.  The  "  city  father  "  gives 
free  excursions  to  his  constituents,  makes  pres- 
ents to  his  numerous  baby  namesakes,  supplies 
railroad  passes,  buys  tickets  for  balls  and  fairs, 
and  "  chances  "•  galore,  and  is  in  his  element  at  a 
church  bazaar.  Free  drinks  and  turkeys  mark 
Thanksgiving  and  Christmas  for  him  and  for  the 
recipients  of  his  bounty. 

This  "  boss  "  has  his  supreme  opportunity  on 
funeral  occasions;  he  puts  his  hand  into  his 
pocket — or  into  that  of  the  city — and  prevents 
burial  in  the  pauper's  field,  that  bete  noir  of  the 
poor  whose  scant  earnings  are  drawn  on  for 
burial  insurance,  when  they  utterly  fail  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  living.  He  is  good  to  the  widow 
and  the  fatherless,  he  "  knows  the  poor  better 
than  the  big  guns  who  are  always  talking  about 
civil  service  and  reform." 

What  bearing  has  all  this  upon  city  needs? 
Chiefly  in  its  effects  upon  family  life  and  the 
convictions  of  childhood.  With  the  people  thus 
royally  served  by  what  seems  simply  the  mani- 
festation of  "  human  friendliness,"  what  chance 
is  there  for  the  exposure  of  corruption,  for  teach- 
ing the  sacredness  of  the  franchise,  for  a  clean 
municipal  government?  And  yet  this  is  what 
goes  on,  and  the  only  remedy  is  the  arousal  to 
civic  righteousness,  through  the  redemptive 
power  of  personal  righteousness,  day  after 


WHERE   EXTREMES   MEET    167 

day,  year  after  year,  in  every  large  city  in  the 
land. 

We  need  not  dwell  upon  the  dangers  to  wom- 
anhood in  our  cities,  save  to  note  a  single  point. 
It  is  said  there  are  but  two  places  in  Chicago  in 
which  a  respectable  woman  without  funds  may 
hope  for  a  respectable  night's  shelter.  How  is  it 
elsewhere  ? 

What  becomes  of  the  thousands  of  immigrants 
that  annually  make  this  country  their  home  ?  One 
answer  to  the  question  may  be  found  in  the 
following  synopsis,  taken  from  The  Christian 
Herald: 

"  The  present  population  of  Chicago  is  over 
two  millions.  About  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  peo- 
ple are  foreign  by  birth  or  parentage.  Every 
continent,  and  some  of  the  islands  of  the  earth, 
are  represented.  Sixty  languages  are  spoken. 
Different  nationalities  colonise  in  different  parts 
of  the  city,  until  one  can  visit  Bohemia,  Poland, 
Italy,  and  other  lands,  without  leaving  the  city 
limits. 

"  There  are  more  Germans  than  in  any  city  in 
Germany  except  Berlin,  and  more  Poles  than  in 
any  city  in  Poland.  One  city  missionary  visiting 
from  house  to  house  during  the  afternoon  of  a 
single  week,  offered  the  Gospel  to  fifteen  nation- 
alities. In  one  section,  not  two  miles  square, 
eighteen  languages  are  spoken.  Many  of  these 
people  do  not  understand  English.  Most  of 


168          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

them  are  nominally  Romanists,  and  these  things 
greatly  increase  the  difficulty  of  reaching  them 
with  the  Gospel.  But  a  glance  at  the  city  shows 
how  much  the  Gospel  is  needed.  About  6000 
saloons  are  doing  business.  These  employ 
31,600  persons,  and  have  a  daily  income  of 
$316,000.  In  a  single  saloon,  on  a  certain  ordi* 
nary  Sabbath  evening  at  seven  o'clock,  there  were 
counted  524  men.  Within  the  next  two  hours 
480  more  entered,  until  men  were  standing  six- 
deep  around  the  gambling  tables.  There  are 
3000  billiard  and  pool  rooms.  Houses  of  im- 
purity abound.  In  one  ward  were  counted  312, 
in  which  were  found  1708  inmates.  A  thousand 
men  are  engaged  in  alluring  men  into  these  dens. 

"  The  religious  and  moral  destitution  of  the 
masses  is  startling.  Some  years  ago  a  section 
was  canvassed,  and  it  was  found  that  of  1280 
families  visited,  1220  did  not  possess  God's 
Word,  neither  were  they  willing  to  receive  it. 
The  canvass  of  another  section  revealed  1140 
families  with  no  Bible,  with  1823  families  neg- 
lecting public  worship,  and  nearly  2000  chil- 
dren in  no  Sunday-school.  It  is  not  uncommon 
to  find  people  who  never  saw  a  Bible,  and  do  not 
know  it  when  shown  to  them.  One  woman  pro- 
duced on  invitation  what  she  thought  was  her 
Bible ;  when,  on  her  failing  to  find  the  Gospel  of 
John,  the  visitor  came  to  her  assistance,  it  was 
to  discover  that  she  had  Webster's  Dictionary  in 
her  hand.  '  Well,'  said  she,  '  if  that  is  not  a 


WHERE    EXTREMES   MEET    169 

Bible,  then  we  do  not  have  one.'  There  are  said 
to  be  twelve  atheistic  Sunday-schools  in  opera- 
tion in  the  city,  the  members  of  which  are  indoc- 
trinated by  means  of  a  catechism  whose  summary 
states  that  there  is  no  God,  no  Christ,  no  Holy 
Ghost,  no  heaven,  no  hell,  no  virtue  in  Chris- 
tianity and  no  integrity  in  its  ministers." 

According  to  the  census  of  1900,  more  than 
one-third  of  all  the  aliens  in  the  United  States 
cannot  speak  English.  A  large  proportion  of 
these  are  in  Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  Texas, 
and  the  extreme  Western  States  and  Territories. 

The  percentage  of  non-English-speaking  aliens 
is  greatest  in  the  cities.  Notable  instances  of  this 
are  found  in  Allegheny,  Cleveland,  Pittsburg, 
Scranton,  and  Milwaukee.  Of  those  who  have 
taken  out  naturalisation  papers  in  the  latter  city, 
21.6  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  foreign- 
born  males  of  voting  age  cannot  speak  English. 
In  other  words,  more  than  one-fifth  of  the  foreign- 
born  voters  of  Milwaukee  do  not  know  the 
language  of  the  country  whose  destinies  they  help 
to  control ! 

Foreigners  are  clannish^— so  are  we.  Have  we 
not  an  "  American  colony  "  in  every  foreign  city  ? 
Full  often  the  seeds  of  anarchism  and  nihilism 
are  sown  in  their  hearts,  even  if  they  have  not 
germinated  before  these  aliens  land  on  our  shores. 
In  the  isolation  enforced  by  their  own  customs — 
and  ours — and  by  reason  of  the  freedom  of  speech 
and  press,  the  conditions  are  favorable  for  the 


UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

growth  of  such  seeds.  Only  by  showing  that 
there  is  something  better  than  destruction,  some- 
thing really  worth  living  for,  can  a  large  pro- 
portion of  those  who  reach  our  shores  be  made 
a  safe  element  in  our  body  politic. 

The  concentration  of  foreigners  in  the  mining 
districts  of  the  country  is  another  serious  feature 
of  the  immigration  problem.  Poles,  Hungarians 
and  Italians  constitute  a  large  part  of  the  work- 
men in  the  coal  mines — men  whose  votes  count 
the  same  as  those  of  native-born  citizens,  but  men, 
as  a  rule,  with  no  other  education  in  citizenship 
than  that  given  by  the  "  boss,"  and  able  to  read 
their  ballots  only  so  far  as  the  picture  symbol  of 
the  party  that  has  claimed  their  allegiance. 

But  these  men,  miserable  as  their  condition  is, 
have  apologies  for  homes.  The  nomads  of  our 
population,  the  "  gangs  "  that  build  our  railroads, 
dig  our  canals,  construct  our  great  reservoirs,  do 
the  hard  work  of  installing  irrigation  plants 
in  the  Far  West — these  men,  controlled  by  the 
padrone  system  and  bound  hand  and  foot  through 
debts  contracted  in  their  ignorance — these  men 
have,  absolutely  no  homes — but  they  are  voters. 

HOMES  OF   "THE  OTHER   HALF" 

Can  you  picture  to  yourself  two  rooms — called 
home — where  the  sun  never  shines?  This  sun- 
less home  is  in  a  rear  house  five  steps  below  the 
street  level. 


WHERE    EXTREMES    MEET    171 

The  general  living  room  is  cold  and  damp  and 
there  is  a  suspicious  sort  of  scratch  and  scramble 
behind  the  stove,  which  makes  one  creep  all  over, 
when  a  big  rat  takes  itself  off  into  the  unex- 
plored depths  under  the  chimney.  Then  follows 
the  explanation  of  an  old  broom  handle  kept  in 
the  bed  to  pound  the  floor  with  when  the  rats 
come  out — "  But  sure,  lady,  them's  so  bold  them's 
getten  not  afraid  of  me  stick;  there's  too  much 
rats  in  this  house  " — and  so  the  lady  thinks  as  she 
watches  under  the  chimney  expecting  any  minute 
to  see — "  too  much  of  a  rat." 

"  Why  no  fire  to-day  ? "  asks  the  visitor. 
"  Sure,  lady,  you  see  I'm  trying  to  save  all  I  can 
for  me  baby ;  it's  not  so  cold  on  me  in  bed,  and  it 
costs  thirteen  cents  to  feed  that  stove  with  coal 
only  one  day.  My  man  he  has  not  much  work; 
he's  gone  now  to  a  saloon  to  get  a  free  lunch,  and 
then  he  brings  home  a  five-cent  soup  for  me;  it's 
hot  and  that  warms  me  up.  My  man  he  only 
cleans  out  beer  pipes  in  the  saloons  around  town 
and  only  makes  about  $4  in  a  week  and  not  always 
that ;  then  we  pays  $4  for  our  room  and  then  tries 
to  live  and  save  a  bit  for  me  baby,  but  we  haven't 
saved  any  yet." 

The  five-days  old  son  who  is  an  heir  in  his 
own  right  to  rats  and  poverty  and  the  "  bit  "  yet 
to  be  saved,  is  just  as  welcome,  just  as  much 
loved,  and  just  as  happy  as  if  he  had  been  born 
into  a  mansion. 

Our  next  visit  is  not  in  a  basement,  but  an 


172          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

old  attic,  and  I  wish  I  could  show  you  an  interioi 
view,  for  it  is  quite  impossible  to  describe  it.  In 
the  lower  hall  (for  the  first  floor  is  a  saloon  and 
gambling  den),  the  water  came  up  over  my  rub- 
bers, and  the  plastered  ceiling  had  tumbled  down 
so  that  the  laths  were  everywhere  exposed  with 
the  water  running  through.  It  was  so  dark  and 
horrid  I  dreaded  going  up,  but  I  knew  that  there 
were  two  old,  helpless  people  under  the  roof,  so  I 
opened  my  umbrella  and  climbed  up  over  the 
debris  toward  the  top.  It  was  the  same  on  every 
landing  and  my  only  wonder  was  that  the  whole 
old  frame  house  did  not  blow  down.  Such  hard 
faces  as  one  meets  in  these  halls  make  it  seem  like 
a  hiding  place  for  criminals.  Certainly  the  dregs 
of  many  nationalities  have  found  a  refuge  in  old 

"  79" 

In  the  room  of  the  old  people  water  was  pour- 
ing through  the  roof  and  everything  in  the  room 
was  soaked,  even  the  bed.  Mrs.  H.,  over 
eighty  years  old,  sat  by  the  tiny  stove  crying,  and 
holding  an  umbrella  over  a  can  of  milk  which  the 
lame  old  husband  had  just  brought  from  the  diet 
kitchen.  Mr.  H.  was  nailing  pieces  of  old  boxes 
down  on  the  floor  where  the  boards  had  rotted 
away  and  broken  through.  Suddenly  he  looked 
up  and  pointed  to  half  of  a  loaf  of  wet  bread  and 
a  small  bag  of  peas  soaked  by  water  and  said : 
"  There's  our  food  for  to-day  and  to-morrow 
gone!  Oh,  such  a  dreadful  hole,  but  when 
spring  comes  we  can  get  a  little  work,  and  then 


WHERE    EXTREMES    MEET    m 

we'll  move.  People  say  we  ought  to  go  to  the 
Island,  but  we  are  not  criminals;  I've  been  well 
brought  up  and  never  expected  to  come  to  this. 
I'm  over  eighty,  it's  a  little  while  I've  yet  to  live ; 
we'd  like  to  stay  together  because  I'm  so  help- 
less." 

"Your  religion,"  said  a  girl  in  a  Catholic  home, 
"  is  not  good.  Your  minister  can't  forgive  sins. 
Your  religion  was  made  by  Martin  Luther,  my 
religion  came  from  Christ." 

I  explained  to  her  what  the  word  "  Protestant  " 
meant,  how  Luther  came  to  separate  from  the 
Romish  church,  and  repeating  the  Creed,  which 
greatly  astonished  the  young  girl,  I  said :  "  Read 
the  Word  of  God,  search  the  truth  in  the  Bible, 
Katie,  and  God  will  lead  you  into  light." 

"  What !  Read  the  Bible— the  Protestant  Bible  ? 
No,  I  won't;  there  are  things  in  it  I  have  been 
told  not  to  read,  things  only  the  priests  must 
know." — City  Mission  Monthly,  New  York 
City. 

MEMORY   TEST 

Why  did  Home  Missionary  work  begin  with 
the  frontiers? 

Name  some  of  the  inherent  rights  of  child- 
hood? 

What  special  dangers  in  city  government  result 
from  suburban  life? 


m          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

Which  is  better,  a  down-town  "  mission  "  or  a 
down-town  church?  Why? 

Give  the  quotation  from  Dr.  Parkhurst.  How 
does  it  apply  to  the  temperance  question  ? 

What  effect  does  tenement-house  life  have 
upon  childhood? 

What  are  the  dangers  in  street  education  of 
children  ? 

What  are  the  objections  to  factory  or  store  life 
for  children? 

What  picture  is  given  of  "  city  fathers  "  ? 

What  bearing  has  this  upon  Home  Missions  ? 

Give  illustrations  of  the  dangers  to  womanhood 
in  city  life. 

Describe  the  nationalities  found  in  Chicago. 

Illustrate  the  religious  destitution  of  our  cities. 

What  is  atheism  doing? 

What  startling  fact  is  given  concerning  the 
alien  population  of  Milwaukee? 

What  is  the  remedy  for  anarchism  ? 

Describe  conditions  in  the  mining  regions? 
How  is  it  along  the  lines  of  new  railroads,  canals, 
etc.? 

BIBLE  LESSON 

Strangers  and  Sojonrners 

[To  be  read  responsively] 

Thou  shalt  neither  vex  a  stranger  nor  oppress 
him, 

For  ye  were  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt. — 

Ex.  22!  21. 


WHERE    EXTREMES    MEET    H5 

Thou  shall  not  oppress  a  stranger; 

For  ye  know  the  heart  of  a  stranger,  seeing 
ye  were  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt. — Ex. 
23:9. 

Six  days  thou  shalt  do  thy  work,  and  on  the 
seventh  day  thou  shalt  rest;  that  thine  ox  and 
thine  ass  may  rest,  and  the  son  of  thy  handmaid, 
and  the  stranger,  may  be  refreshed. — Ex.  23 : 12. 

Thou  shalt  not  glean  thy  vineyard,  neither 
shalt  thou  gather  every  grape  of  thy  vineyard; 

Thou  shalt  leave  them  for  the  poor  and 
stranger;  I  am  the  Lord  your  God. — Lev.  19: 10. 

//  a  stranger  sojourn  with  thee  in  your  land, 
ye  shalt  not  vex  him. 

But  the  stranger  that  dwelleth  with  you  shall 
be  unto  you  as  one  born  among  you,  and  thou 
shalt  love  him  as  thyself. — Lev.  19:  33-34. 

If  thy  brother  be  waxen  poor,  and  fallen  into 
decay  with  thee,  then  thou  shalt  relieve  him. 

Yea,  though  he  be  a  stranger,  or  a  sojourner; 
that  he  may  live  with  thee. — Lev.  25 :  35. 

Judge  righteously  between  every  man  and  his 
brother, 

And  the  stranger  that  is  with  him. — Deut.  I : 
16. 

Thou  shalt  rejoice  in  every  good  thing  which 
the  Lord  thy  God  liath  given  unto  thee  and  unto 
thine  house, 

Thou,  and  the  Levite,  and  the  stranger  that  is 
among  you. — Deut.  26:11. 


176          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

Gather  the  people  together,  men  and  women 
and  children,  and  the  stranger  that  is  within  thy 
gates, 

That  they  may  hear,  and  that  they  may  learn, 
and  fear  the  Lord  your  God,  and  observe  to  do 
all  the  words  of  this  law. — Deut.  31:12. 

The  Lord  preserveth  the  strangers;  he  re- 
lieveth  the  fatherless  and  widow; 

But  the  way  of  the  wicked  he  turneth  upside 
down. — Psalms  146 :  9. 


THE  CHILD  AT  THE  DOOR 

(TUNE— "  There's  a  Stranger  at  the  Door.") 
•'  Behold^  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock" 

There's  a  child  outside  your  door; 

Let  him  in! 
He  may  never  pass  it  more; 

Let  him  in! 

Let  a  little  wandering  waif 
Find  a  shelter  sweet  and  safe 
In  the  love  and  light  of  home; 

Let  him  come! 

There's  a  cry  along  your  street, 

Day  by  day  ! 
There's  a  sound  of  little  feet 

Gone  astray. 

Open  wide  your  guarded  gate 
For  the  little  ones  that  wait, 
Till  a  voice  of  love  from  home 

Bid  them  come. 


WHERE    EXTREMES    MEET 

There's  a  voice  divinely  sweet 

Calls  to-day; 
"  Will  you  let  these  little  feet 

Stray  away?" 

Let  the  lambs  be  homeward  led, 
And  of  you  it  shall  be  said, 
•*  Ye  have  done  it  faithfully 

Unto  Me." 

— MARY  A.  LATHBURY. 


IX 

SUGGESTIONS   FOR   HOME   MISSIONARY 
MEETINGS 

HAVE   a   "  progressive   conversation, "   on 
Home  Missionary  topics.     Name  a  defi- 
nite   time,    say   five   minutes,   for   each 
theme  assigned,  and  secure  a  "  change  of  part- 
ners "  at  the  end  of  each  period. 

Appoint  reporters,  each  to  serve  for  a  definite 
time,  whose  business  it  shall  be  to  gather  Home 
Missionary  news  from  other  sources  than  regular 
missionary  papers,  and  present  it  at  the  meetings. 
Newspapers  and  magazines  furnish  abundant 
items  for  such  a  resume,  if  one's  eyes  are  open 
to  see  them. 


THEMES  FOR  WRITTEN  PAPERS  OR  IN- 
FORMAL  TALKS 

Tilled  and  Untilled  Fields  in  America. 

Why    organise    Missionary    societies    among 
young  people  ? 

How   do   present   conditions   in   China   affect 
Home  Missionary  work  for  the  Chinese  ? 
178 


SUGGESTIONS  179 

The  best  Missionary  meeting  I  ever  attended — 
and  why? 

The  poorest — and  why? 

A  Home  Missionary  Journey  (describing  visits 
to  the  several  missionary  fields.) 

Little  Brothers  and  Sisters — (children  in 
Alaska,  Hawaii,  Porto  Rico,  etc.). 

A  Fourth  of  July  Home  Missionary  Service. 

Why  is  Mormonism  more  dangerous  to  the 
country  than  the  crime  of  bigamy  ? 

Slaves — white  and  yellow — in  this  country  to- 
day. 

A  HOME  MISSIONARY   ROUND  TABLE 

Arrange  the  seats  around  a  table — a  circular 
one,  if  possible.  On  the  table  place  the  following 
numbered  articles : 

1.  A  box  of  cotton  bolls ;  if  these  cannot  be  ob- 
tained, use  cotton-wool. 

2.  The  picture  of  a  reindeer. 

3.  A  horseshoe  magnet  to  which  several  nails 
cling. 

4.  The  picture  of  a  burro  laden  for  travelling. 

5.  A  handful  of  coffee  beans. 

6.  Strips  of  sugar-cane;  lacking  these,  lumps 
of  sugar. 

7.  Wreath  of  artificial  flowers. 

8.  A  bottle  of  turpentine. 

9.  Picture  of  Admiral  Dewey. 

10.  A  handful  of  rice. 


180          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

11.  An  Eskimo  doll. 

12.  A  bow  tied  from  two  strips  of  white  mull. 

13.  Picture  of  an  ocean  steamship. 

14.  Indian  bead-work  or  weaving. 

15.  A  pair  of  chopsticks  or  some  other  Chinese 
curio. 

1 6.  A  piece  of  coal. 

17.  A  specimen  of  drawn  work. 

18.  Strips  of  red  and  yellow  cambric. 

19.  A  bandage  roll. 

20-25.  Pictures  of  leading  Home  Missionary 
workers. 

Supply  sheets  of  paper,  and  pencils,  to  those 
present  and  ask  each  to  write  the  name  of  the 
Home  Mission  field,  or  work,  represented  by  the 
several  objects,  numbering  the  answers  to  cor- 
respond with  the  articles.  If  it  is  desired  to  in- 
troduce the  element  of  competition,  a  subscription 
to  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  organ  of  the 
denomination  (for  herself  or  a  friend)  may  be 
given  to  the  one  presenting  the  poorest  list.  A 
skilful  manager  may  introduce  other  features, 
such  as  a  statement  concerning  each  mission  field, 
personal  choice  of  fields,  comparison  of  the  work 
for  Chinese  in  this  country  with  the  work  in 
China,  etc. 

(i.  Work  among  Southern  Negroes.  2. 
Alaska.  3.  Mormonism,  especially  polygamy. 
4.  New  Mexico  and  Arizona.  5.  Porto  Rico. 
6-7.  Hawaii  (the  luai,  or  wreaths  for  the  shoul- 
ders, are  an  inseparable  feature  of  all  festive  oc- 


SUGGESTIONS  181 

casions  on  the  Hawaiian  Islands).  8.  Work 
among  Southern  mountaineers.  9.  Philippine 
Islands.  10.  Hawaii,  Porto  Rico,  or  the  Phil- 
ippines, ii.  Alaska.  12.  Deaconess  work — 
the  "  white  ties."  13.  Immigrant  work.  14. 
Indians.  15.  Chinese.  16.  Work  in  the  mining 
regions.  17.  Mexican  work  in  the  West.  18. 
Work  among  Spanish-speaking  people.  19. 
Hospitals.  20-25.  Missionary  names  that  should 
be  familiar.) 


A  FIELD  DAY 

Placard  the  walls  of  the  room  with  telling 
facts  concerning  different  fields  of  Home  Mis- 
sionary work.  These  may  be  hand-printed  in 
large  letters  on  sheets  of  wrapping  paper.  Give 
personal  invitations  to  be  present,  accompanying 
each  with  a  small  tag  on  which  is  written  the 
name  of  the  field  the  possessor  is  to  champion. 
These  tags  worn  in  the  buttonhole  stimulate  ques- 
tions and  are  excellent  ads.  Prepare  typewritten 
answers  to  telling  questions  on  each  field. 

On  assembling  seat  the  "Indians," "Alaskans," 
"  Mormons,"  etc.,  together.  Intersperse  the  sing- 
ing of  stirring  missionary  hymns  with  the  other 
exercises. 


X 
TOPICS    FOR   THOUGHT 

IN  the  fall  of  1902  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
National  Spiritualists'  Association  was  held 
in  the  city  of  New  York.  Among  its  features 
were  reports  from  the  four  missionaries  who  had 
been  at  work  under  the  auspices  of  the  Associa- 
tion during  the  year.  Two  of  these  reported 
thirty-one  meetings  held  in  one  month  in  the  State 
of  Texas,  with  four  new  Spiritualist  societies  as 
the  result,  and  a  total  of  298  meetings  with  an  ag- 
gregate attendance  of  32,720  people.  The  others, 
working  in  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Michi- 
gan, etc.,  reported  holding  joint  meetings  with 
Methodists,  Baptists,  and  other  denominations ! 

"  Not  yet  have  we  crowded  opportunity.  In- 
stead, we  have  waited  for  her." 

Said  a  poor  old  Negro  woman,  "  De  Lawd 
don'  hurry,  but  I  reckon  He's  managin'." 

Somehow  I  never  feel  like  good  things  b'long 
to  me  till  I  pass  'em  on  to  somebody  else. — 
"  Mrs.  Wiggs  of  the  Cabbage  Patch!' 

"  All  human  life  belongs  to  Jesus  Christ,  and 

182 


TOPICS    FOR    THOUGHT     183 

it  not  only  may  be,  but  is  lost  now,  without  the 
Divine  Redeemer." 

The  Church  can  do  large  things  much  better 
than  she  can  do  small  things. — Bishop  of  Mon- 
tana. 

In  a  well-deserved  tribute  to  Mr.  Samuel  B. 
Capen,  the  distinguished  President  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  Rev.  Francis  E. 
Clark  says,  "  He  is  not  so  engrossed  with  the 
Foreign  Missionary  idea  that  he  cannot  see  the 
evils  or  the  needs  of  his  own  city,  but  presides  at 
political  meetings,  takes  the  stump,  when  neces- 
sary, defends  a  cause,  popular  or  unpopular,  if  he 
believes  it  to  be  right,  and  is  as  much  a  power 
for  civic  righteousness  as  for  missionary  ex- 
tension." 

America  for  Christ!  Doesn't  that  slogan  stir 
your  soul,  make  your  heart  beat  quickly  ?  It  does 
that  for  me. 

America  for  Christ !  Again  I  sound  the 
stimulating  slogan.  "  America  has  become  the 
wardrobe  of  the  earth,  the  wheat-bin  of  the 
hemispheres,  the  corn-crib  of  all  nations,  the 
purveyor  of  meats  to  all  markets,  the  successful 
competitor  in  the  commercial  trade  of  the  globe, 
and  the  head  banker  of  the  world."  Now  let's 
make  this  same  America  thoroughly  and  truly 
Christian,  that  she  may  the  more  certainly  ade- 


184          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

quately  fill  the  large  place  in  the  history  of  the 
world  that  God  desires  her  to  fill. — John  Willis 
Baer. 

Sturdy,  self-respecting  morality,  a  readiness  to 
do  the  rough  work  of  the  world  without  flinching, 
and  at  the  same  time  an  instant  response  to  every 
call  on  the  spirit  of  brotherly  love  and  neighborly 
kindness — these  qualities  must  rest  at  the  founda- 
tion of  good  citizenship  here  in  this  republic  if  it 
is  to  achieve  the  greatness  we  hope  for  it  among 
the  nations  of  mankind. — President  Roosevelt. 

"  For  we, 

Who  scarce  yet  see 

Wisely  to  rule  ourselves,  are  set 

Where  ways  have  met, 

To  lead  the  waiting  nations  on." 

"  Home  Missions,"  says  an  eminent  foreign 
missionary,  born  and  reared  in  India,  "  means 
that  America  must  be  won  for  Jesus  Christ 
throughout  her  borders,  so  that  she  may  conserve 
a  high  Christian  life,  and  may  do  her  God-ap- 
pointed work  as  an  evangelist  among  the  nations. 
More  and  more,  as  our  history  develops,  we  are 
forced  into  a  wider  world  activity,  and  as  we  go 
the  church  must  see  that  the  civilisation  we  carry 
is  filled  with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  If  we  fail 
to  come  to  large  Christian  achievement  and  fruit- 
age at  home,  how  shall  we  be  empowered  to 
permanently  do  our  work  abroad?  The  whole 
foreign  missionary  work  of  these  United  States 


TOPICS    FOR    THOUGHT     185 

rests  back  upon  an  effective  and  adequate  pro- 
gramme of  Home  Missions." 

In  the  olden  days  the  call  for  a  Scottish  clan 
to  assemble  for  battle  was  sent  by  swift  runners 
who  bore  a  blood-dipped  cross.  O'er  peak  and 
fell,  by  mountain  streams  and  through  peaceful 
hamlets,  sped  the  messenger  till  he  could  speed 
no  farther.  Then  he  thrust  the  cross  into  the 
nearest  hand,  with  the  cry,  as  voiced  by  the  poet 
of  the  Highlands, 

"  The  muster  place  is  Lanrick  Mead, 
Instant  the  time!    Speed,  clansman,  speed! " 

And  he  who  received  the  weird  symbol  dropped 
plough  in  furrow,  left  stag  at  bay  or  bride  at  the 
altar,  and  hastened  on  with  Clan-Alpine's  fiery 
cross. 

In  the  hands  of  His  church  militant,  God  has 
placed  a  blood-stained  cross.  From  man  to  man 
He  bids  us  speed  the  message.  Shall  we  be  less 
ready,  or  less  faithful  than  they  who  bore  Clan- 
Alpine's  message  and  signal? 


XI 
HOME  MISSION  BOOKS 

HY    don't    they    name   some    Home 
Missionary  books?  " 

It  was  an  enthusiastic  missionary 
meeting,  and  books  of  value  to  those  inter- 
ested in  missionary  work — and  those  who 
ought  to  be — were  being  named  from  the 
floor.  But  missions,  apparently,  meant  those 
in  foreign  lands  alone.  The  question  was 
addressed  to  one  of  the  most  intelligent  leaders 
of  young  people's  work  and  thought  in  our  coun- 
try, and  his  instant  reply  was,  "  Home  Mission 
books?  Why,  there  aren't  any,  are  there?  " 

The  response  gave  food  for  thought.  Was 
this  lamentable  condition  of  affairs  really  the 
case?  It  seemed  a  question  best  answered  by 
the  publishers  of  books,  so  it  was  sent  to  them, 
with  the  statement: 

"Anything  illustrating  conditions  of  life  among 
the  Indians,  Mormons  or  Chinese,  on  Western 
frontiers  (including  Alaska),  among  the  negroes 
and  the  mountaineers  of  the  South,  the  foreign 
and  tenement-house  population  of  our  great  cities, 
or  the  natives  of  our  colonial  possessions,  should 


HOME    MISSION    BOOKS     187 

be  of  value  to  our  workers.  Books  from  your 
house  will  be  gladly  included  in  the  list  now 
being  prepared  for  publication." 

In  response  to  this  apparently  definite  state- 
ment, answers  like  these  were  received : 

"  We  beg  to  call  your  attention  to (books 

on  Prayers  and  Hymns). 

"  We  mark,  as  especially  worthy  of  note, 

(a  book  on  Africa)  and  (one  on  Mada- 
gascar.)" 

Another  publisher  mentioned  a  volume  treating 
of  life  at  the  court  of  Siam  as  being  particularly 
in  the  line  of  Home  Missions,  while  yet  another 
advised  a  special  list  of  temperance  books. 

"  We  have  checked  our  missionary  books  in  the 
catalogue  sent  you  herewith,"  wrote  one  firm. 
"  Though  not  distinctly  in  the  line  you  suggest, 
the  story  of  Paton  and  that  of  Mackay,  especially, 
are  considered  standard,  and  have  been  so  widely 
adopted  for  missionary  libraries  that  they  would 
seem  to  us  to  be  as  well  fitted  for  the  Home  Mis- 
sionary work  to  which  you  allude."  Paton,  the 
Apostle  of  the  South  Sea  Islands,  and  Mackay, 
the  hero  of  Uganda ! 

Life  in  Japan,  biographies  of  Neesima  and 
Moffat,  a  history  of  Chinese  literature,  and  the 
story  of  a  home  in  Fiji  were  especially  com- 
mended to  notice. 

One  was  almost  tempted  to  think  Home  Mis- 
sions a  figment  of  the  imagination,  since  these 
leading  publishers  of  great  cities  had  no  com- 


188          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

prehension    of    their    existence.     Clearly    there 
must  be  personal  search. 

The  results  of  this  search  are  classified  below. 

Abbreviations  (all  addresses  are  in  New  York 
City  unless  otherwise  stated)  :  Appleton,  A. ; 
Baker  £  Taylor,  B.  T.;  Baptist  Publication 
Society  (Philadelphia),  B.;  Crowell,  Cr.;  D.  C. 
Cook  (Chicago),  C.;  Doubleday,  Page  &  Co., 
D.  P.;  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  D.  M.;  Harper  Bros., 
H.;  Houghton,  Mififlin  &  Co.  (Boston,  Mass.), 
H.  M.;  Lee  &  Shepard  (Boston),  L.  S.;  Little, 
Brown  &  Co.  (Boston),  L.  B.;  Longmans, 
Green  &  Co.,  L.  G.;  Macmillan,  M.;  Methodist 
Book  Concern,  M.  B.;  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  South,  M.  E.  S. ;  McClure,  Phillips  &  Co., 
M.  P.;  L.  C.  Page  &  Co.  (Boston),  P.;  Pilgrim 
Press  (Boston),  P.  P.;  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Publication  (Philadelphia),  P.  B.;  Fleming  H. 
Revell  Co.,  R. ;  Chas.  Scribner's  Sons,  S. ; 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  150  Fifth 
Ave.,  W. 

ALASKA 

The  New   Eldorado— M.   M.    Ballou.     H.   M., 

$1.50. 
Alaska— Rev.  Dr.  Sheldon  H.  Jackson.     D.  M., 

$1.50. 

Alaska  and  the  Klondike — A.  Heilprin.  A.,  $1.75. 
Picturesque  Alaska — Abby  J.  Woodman.  H.  M., 

$1.00. 
Among     the     Alaskans — Mrs.     Julia     McNair 

Wright.    P.  B.,  $.75. 


HO  ME  MISSION  BOOKS     189 

Life  in  Alaska — Mrs.   Eugene   S.   Willard.     P. 

B.,  $75- 

Kin-da-shon's   Wife — Mrs.   Eugene  S.  Willard. 
R.,  $1.00. 

THE  CHINESE 

The   Story  of   Chinatown — Mary  E.   Bam  ford. 

C,  $.08. 
The  Lady  of  the  Lily  Feet— Helen  F.  Clark.     B., 

$.50. 

These  two  books  are  illustrative  of  Chinese 
life  in  American  cities,  the  latter  dealing  espe- 
cially with  the  sufferings  of  Chinese  women. 
A  Chinese  Quaker — Mrs.  Nellie  Blessing  Eyster. 

R.,  $1.50. 

A  story  based  on  experience,  showing  the  re- 
sults of  Christian  work  among  the  Chinese  in  this 
country. 
The  Chinaman  as  We  See  Him — Rev.  Dr.  Ira 

M.  Condit.     R.,  $1.50. 

The  history  of  Home  Missionary  work  for  the 
Chinese  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

CITIES 

Democracy   and    Social    Ethics — Jane    Addams. 

M.,  $1.25,  net. 
Modern   Cities   and   Their  Religious   Problems, 

Samuel  Lane  Loomis.     B.  T.,  $1.00. 
The  20th  Century  City — Rev.  Dr.  Josiah  Strong. 

B.  T.  (paper,  25  cents),  $.50. 


190          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

How  the  Other  Half  Lives— Jacob  A.  Riis.     S., 

$1.25,  net. 
A  Plain  Woman's  Story — Julia  McNair  Wright. 

P.  P.,  $1.00.     Dealing  with  the  subject  of 

sweat-shops. 
The  City  Wilderness— R.   S.  Woods.     H,  M., 

$1.50. 
Practical    Sociology— C.    D.    Wright.      L.    G., 

$2.00. 

The  New  W'orld's  Welcome — Alice  M.  Guern- 
sey. W.,  $.10.  A  study  of  immigration 

and  some  of  its  problems. 
The  Leaven  in  a  Great  City — Lilian  W.  Betts. 

D.    M.,   $1.50.     Based   on    experiences    in 

Settlement  life  and  work. 
Down    in    Water    Street— S.    H.    Hadley.     R., 

$1.00,  net. 

What  God  can  do  even  in  the  slums,  as  illus- 
trated in  the  history  of  the  old  Water  Street  Mis- 
sion (established  by  Jerry  McAuley). 

FRONTIERS 

Recollections  of  a  Missionary  in  the  Great  West 
— Rev.  Cyrus  Townsend  Brady.  S.,  $1.25. 

The  Minute  Man  of  the  Frontier— W.  C.  Pudde- 
foot.  Cr.,  $1.25. 

A  Frontier  Hero— L.  T.  Thurston.     P.  P.,  $1.25. 

Black  Rock  and  the  Sky  Pilot—"  Ralph  Con- 
nor." R.,  each,  $1.25. 

Lights  and  Shadows  of  a  Long  Episcopate — 
Bishop  Whipple.  M.,  $2.50,  net. 


HOME  MISSION  BOOKS     191 

The  Annie  Laurie  Mine — David  N.  Beach.    P. 
P.,  $1.50. 

HAWAIIAN  ISLANDS 

Hawaiian  America — Casper  Whitney.  H.,  $2.50. 
The  Transformation  of  Hawaii — Belle  M.  Brain. 
R.,  $1.00. 

INDIANS 

A  Century  of  Dishonor — Helen  Hunt  Jackson. 

L.  B.,  $1.50. 
Indian   Boyhood — Dr.   Chas.   A.   Eastman.     M. 

P.,  $1.60,  net. 

Illustrative  of  the  native  traits  and  character 
of  the  Indians.     The  author,  an  educated  Indian, 
knows  whereof  he  writes. 
Onoqua — Frances  C.   Sparhawk.     L.   S.,  $1.00, 

net. 
The  Captain  of  the  Gray  Horse  Troop — Hamlin 

Garland.     H.,  $1.50. 

A  charming  story,  illustrating  two  methods  of 
dealing  with  the  Indians,  and  their  results. 
The  Apostle  of  the  North.     R:,  $1.25. 
On  the  Indian  Trail.     R.,  $1.00. 
Indian    Wigwams    and    Northern    Camp-fires. 

M.  B.,  $1.25. 

By  Canoe  and  Dog  Train.     M.  B.,  $1.25. 
Oowikapun.     M.  B.,  $1.00. 
Algonquin  Indian  Tales.     R.,  $1.25. 

The  above,  by  Rev.  Egerton  R.  Young,  though 
dealing  directly  with  conditions  across  the  Cana- 


292          UNDER    OUR    FLAG 

dian  border,  are  illustrative  of  common  experi- 
ences of  missionary  work  among  the  Indians. 
Our  Life  among  the  Iroquois  Indians — Mrs.  H. 
L.  Caswell.     P.,  $1.50. 

MISCELLANEOUS 
Expansion — Dr.  Josiah  Strong.     B.  T.    (paper, 

50  cents),  $1.00. 
Our  Country — Dr.  Josiah  Strong.     B.  T.  (paper, 

30  cents),  $.60. 
The  New  Era — Dr.  Josiah  Strong.     B.  (paper, 

35  cents),  $.75. 
History  of  the  Deaconess  Movement — Rev.   C. 

Colder.     M.  B.,  $1.75. 
Joy,  the  Deaconess — Elizabeth  E.  Holding.     M. 

B.,  $.90. 
Leavening    the    Nation — Rev.    Dr.    Joseph    B. 

Clark.     B.  T.,  $1.25,  net. 
The  Little  Green  God — Mrs.  Caroline  At  water 

Mason.     R.,  $.75. 

Those  Black  Diamond  Men — Wm.  Futhoy  Gib- 
bons.    R.,  $1.50. 

A  tale  of  the  mining  regions  of  Pennsylvania. 
Presbyterian  Home  Missions — Rev.  Sherman  H. 

Doyle.     P.  B.,  $1.00,  net. 
After  Prison— What?— Maud  Ballington  Booth. 

R.,  $1.25,  net. 

MORMONISM 

The  Story  of  the  Mormons — William  Alexander 

Linn.     MM  $4.00,  net. 
The  Mormon  Monster — Edgar  E.  Folk.  R.,$2.oo. 


HOME  MISSION  BOOKS     193 
/  „ 

By  Order  of  the  Prophet— Rev.  Alfred  H.  Henry. 

R.,  $1.50. 

A  powerful  story  showing  the  gradual  disinte- 
gration of  character  produced  by  belief  in  Mor- 
monism. 
Rocky  Mountain  Saints — T.  B.  H.  Stenhouse. 

A.,  $3.00. 
My  Summer  in  a  Mormon  Village — Florence  A. 

Merriam.     H.  M.,  $1.00. 

MOUNTAINEERS 
In  the  "  Stranger  People's  "  Country— Charles 

Egbert  Craddock.     H.,  $1.50. 
Other   books   by  this   author   contain    similar 
pictures  of  life  and  character  in  the  Southern 
Highlands. 

The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England,  and  America — 
Douglass  Campbell.     H.,  $5.0x5. 

NEGROES 

Our  Brother  in  Black— Rev.  Dr.  Atticus  G.  Hay- 
good,  M.  E.  S.,  $1.00. 

Up    from    Slavery,    and    Character-Building — 
Booker  T.  Washington.     D.  P.,  each  $1.50, 
net. 
SPANISH-SPEAKING  PEOPLE 

Old  Glory  and  the  Gospel  in  the  Philippines — 
Dr.  Alice  B.  Condict.     R.,  $.75,  net. 

The  Cross  of  Christ  in  Bololand — John  M.  Dean. 
R.,  $1.00,  net. 

The   New   Era   in   the   Philippines — Arthur   J. 
Brown.     R.,  $1.25. 


